Betaeus macginitieae Hart, 1964

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 66-68

Betaeus macginitieae Hart, 1964

( Fig. 16E–G)

Betaeus macginitieae Hart, 1964: 451 , figs. 48–49, 55, 62–64, 75–76 (see this reference for previous misidentifications). — Ache & Davenport 1977: 94. — Word & Charwat 1976: 57. — Chace & Abbott 1980: 569. — Wicksten 1984a: 188. — Carvacho & Olson 1984a: 64. — Jensen 1995: 42, fig. 65 — Kuris et al. 2007: 637, Pl. 317 G.

Diagnosis. Front of carapace produced to form hood, slightly curved anteriorly but without emargination. Stylocerite reaching to last quarter of second segment of antennular peduncle. Scaphocerite narrow, lateral tooth exceeding blade, reaching middle of third segment of antennular peduncle. Lateral margin of carapace faintly curved. Chela of pereopod 1 elongated, with blunt tooth on proximal part of fixed finger followed by gap before denticulate cutting edge; dactyl with similar proximal tooth. Carpus of pereopod 2 with 5 articles, article 1 longest. Pereopod 3 with stout ischium, slightly dilated merus, spine on proximal part of merus, short dactyl. Pereopods 4, 5 similar but smaller. Pleura of abdominal somites 1–4 rounded, pleuron 5 somewhat acute. Telson with 2 pairs dorsal spines, pair small spines on posterior margin, margin curved. Total length about 25 mm.

Color in life. Dark purple, resembling color of sea urchins; blue to reddish brown ( Hart 1964). A specimen from Santa Catalina I. was purple-red, with red appendages.

Habitat and depth. Tide pools, subtidal rocky areas, in association with sea urchins Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Stimpson, 1857) and S. franciscanus (A. Agassiz, 1863) ; intertidal zones to 10 m.

Range. Monterey, California to Todos Santos Bay, Baja California. Type locality Corona del Mar , Orange

County, California.