Hypolobocera Ortmann, 1897

Rodríguez, G. & López, B., 2003, Insular species of Neotropical freshwater crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura), Journal of Natural History 37 (21), pp. 2599-2614 : 2601-2602

Genus Hypolobocera Ortmann, 1897

Hypolobocera gorgonensis von Prahl, 1983 .

Hypolobocera gorgonensis von Prahl, 1983: 105 , figure 1; 1988: 181, figure 13.

Hypolobocera muisnensis Rodríguez and von Sternberg, 1998: 123 , figure 8.

Material examined

Gorgona Island , Colombia, 22 August 1989, received from von Prahl, one male, cl 50.6 mm, cb 83.0 mm ( TU 6303 ) . Gorgona Island , Pacific, Cauca Department, Colombia, 1 February 1962, one male, cl 43.2 mm, cb 69.9 mm, one male with broken carapace, cb 81.2 mm, one female, cl 47.2 mm, cb 76.4 mm ( FMNH 3687 ) . Estero Lojca More , Muisne Salima, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, 21 October 1988, coll. J. C. Vieira, one male holotype of Hypolobocera muisnensis , cl 31.1 mm, cb 51.6 mm ( IVIC 952 ) . Estero El Cañero , La Concordia, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, 1 October 1988, coll. J. C. Vieira, one male, cl 20.7 mm, cb 31.9 mm ( IVIC 953 ) . Same data, 8 October 1988, one male cl 24.2 mm, cb 39.5 mm ( IVIC 954 ) . Estero Moncauve , Recinto Moncauve, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, 5 January 1988, coll. J. C. Vieira, one male cl 24.2 mm, cb 39.5 mm ( IVIC 955 ) .

Remarks

Hypolobocera gorgonensis belongs to a group of 10 species of Hypolobocera from Ecuador, in which the lateral lobe is very elongated, extending to approximately one-third the total length of the gonopod, subtriangular or gently curved; the apex in distal view is elongated, with its lateral half either rounded and horseshoe-shaped, or triangular and ending in an acute spine directed upwards ( Rodríguez and von Sternberg, 1998). One of these species, Hypolobocera muisnensis from Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, cannot be distinguished from H. gorgonensis , although there are slight differences in the material available for both species, such as the cb / cl ratio which is 1.63 in H. gorgonensis (N =3) and 1.62 in H. muisnensis (N =4); and the proportion exognath length / ischium length of endognath which is 0.32 (N =2) in H. gorgonensis and slightly more, 0.38 (N =4), in H. muisnensis . The gonopod morphology is similar, except that the distal margin of the lateral lobe of Hypolobocera gorgonensis is rounded, whereas in H. muisnensis it is angled, and that H. muisnensis presents in caudal view a distal slope toward the mesial margin not observed in H. gorgonensis . These differences can be regarded as intraspecific variations and consequently Hypolobocera muisnensis should be considered a junior synonym of H. gorgonensis , notwithstanding the noteworthy disjunction and isolation of the respective areas.

Habitat

Regarding the specimens collected on Gorgona Island ( FMNH 3687), the collector F. Medem stated on the label that the species is ‘abundant in all the brooks, also in their upper courses and in the small Laguna Cabrera. Eaten by the Spectacled Caiman, Caiman sclerops spp.’