Mimulus foliatus Stimpson, 1860

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 208-209

Mimulus foliatus Stimpson, 1860

( Fig. 49C, Pl. 12A)

Mimulus foliatus Stimpson, 1860: 200 , pl. 5. — Holmes 1900: 23. — Rathbun 1904: 173; 1925: 182, pl. 60, text figs. 70 71 — Weymouth 1910:30, pl. 4, figs. 12, 13. — Schmitt 1921: 204, fig. 127a,b. — Johnson & Snook 1927: 368, fig. 320.— Garth 1958: 183, pl. L, fig. 1; pl. 25, fig. 3. — Garth & Abbott 1980: 600, fig. 25.8. — Hart 1982: 182, fig. 72. — Ricketts et al. 1985: 170, fig. 138. — Jensen 1995: 26, fig. 29. — Kuris et al. 2007: 641, pl. 319, fig. H.— Hultgren & Stachowitz 2008: 994.

Diagnosis. Rostral horns flattened, notch between them triangular, rows of hooked setae on rostrum. Carapace flattened, median region with 2 small tubercles; lateral margin bearing broad, leaf-like expansions divided by narrow fissure. Hooked setae present on median region of small crabs. Preorbital tooth large, triangular, acute; postorbital tooth small, pointing obliquely downward. Peduncle of antennae reaching to or near rostrum apex. Male cheliped large, merus rough, carpus with ridge on inner margin, hand with fingers bent downward, curved inward, gaping near base but distally with small teeth. Female cheliped smaller, without prominent ridge on merus, fingers not gaping, dentate along entire margin. Pereopod 2 longer than following pereopods. Propodus of pereopods 2–5 with setose tooth near middle of inferior margin. Male, female abdomens with seven free segments. Male carapace length 23.4 mm, width 39 mm; female carapace length 19.3 mm, width 32.4 mm.

Color in life. Carapace highly variable: reddish, rose-red, purple, tan and marked with stripes, white with brick-red rostrum, red-brown with white " V " mark or orange. Male cheliped reddish or white with red fingers. Pereopods 2–5 reddish with white bands. The color notes are from crabs from Monterey Bay , California .

Habitat and depth. Among rocks and algae, shore to 129 m but usually at 30 m or less.

Range. Unalaska, Alaska to San Diego, but uncommon south of Point Conception , California . Type locality off Monterey , California .

Remarks. Mimulus foliatus may attach bits of algae to its carapace. Large individuals may have encrusting sponges or bryozoans on the carapace. This crab often is found among coralline algae and kelp holdfasts.

Hultgren & Stachowitz (2008), in a molecular analysis, noted that M. foliatus nested in a clade with Pugettia spp. and is morphologically and ecologically similar to other Pugettia species. They noted that Rathbun (1894) also suggested that there was not good reason for placing Mimulus in a genus distinct from Pugettia . They suggested that M. foliatus be reclassified as a member of the genus Pugettia but did not formally change the designation of this crab.