Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille

Parasram, Nadeshinie, Santana, William & Vallès, Henri, 2021, Updated checklist of semi-terrestrial and estuarine crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) of Barbados, West Indies, Zootaxa 5052 (4), pp. 451-485 : 464-465

Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille in Latreille, Le Peletier, Serville & Guérin, 1828

Fig. 7 A, B, C, D

Ocypoda gigantea Fréminville, 1835:221 [type-locality: Antilles].

Cardisoma quadrata De Saussure, 1858:438 , pl. 2, fig. 13 [type-locality: Haiti].

Cardisoma diurnum Gill, 1862:42 [type-locality: Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Thomas].

Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille in Latreille, Le Peletier, Serville & Guérin, 1828: 685 [type-locality: Brazil; type in MNHN]. -Rathbun 1900: 15; 1918: 341, pls. 106 and 107, fig. 155; 1920: 18; 1921: 78; 1933: 94, fig. 89. Chace & Hobbs 1969: 195, figs. 64, 67 a–c. Keith 1985: 274, fig. 11 F. Melo 1996: 480, unnumbered figure. Coelho et al. 2008: 38. Ng et al. 2008: 212. García & Capote 2015: 16, figs. 7 k and 7 l. Guinot et al. 2018: 565, figs. 4 A–C, 5 D–F, 6 B.

Material examined. Barbados, Long Pond , St. Andrew, mudflat, 13̊ 15’40.6” N–59̊ 33’22.94” W, 2 ♂ CW: 70.6; 80.7 mm ( BLSZ 091 ) . Idem , 1 ♂ CW: 97.0 mm, 1 ♀ CW: 83.0 mm ( BLSZ 111 ) . Idem , 1 ♂ CW: 80.7 mm ( BLSZ 091 ; MZUSP 40856 ) .

Distribution. Cardisoma guanhumi is found in the Western Atlantic: Bermuda, USA (Louisiana, Florida), Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico, Andros Island, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Barbados, Trinidad, Isla La Blanquilla, Islas Los Roques, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Isla de la Providencia, Colombia, and Brazil ( Chace & Hobbs 1969; Poupin 2018).

Distribution in Barbados. Archers Bay, Green Pond, Long Pond, Lakes, Conset Bay, Graeme Hall, Brandons, Holetown Police Station, Holetown Hole, Coral Reef Club, Queen’s Fort, Weston, and Sherman’s. [ Table 1 (Site #s: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 & 26)].

Habitat in Barbados. Mudflat of brackish water rivers and mangrove swamps ( Fig. 2B : J).

Ecological notes. In Barbados, Cardisoma guanhumi is mostly active at night. During the daytime, they stay hidden in their burrows. However, during periods of heavy rainfall, the crabs can be seen leaving their flooded burrows and heading towards drier areas. Occupied burrows can be identified by the presence of wet mud around their entrance. Cardisoma guanhumi were seen feeding on moss, fruits, leaf litter, and chicken viscera. Ovigerous females were seen in August. Cardisoma guanhumi is known to construct deep burrows (~ 1.5–2 m) along the periphery banks of wetlands and mangrove swamps. They are also reported in areas up to ~ 5–8 km from the sea, where the burrows extend down to the water table. This species also occurs along canals and irrigation ditches, where they dwell in shallow burrows or amongst the rocks ( Herreid & Gifford 1963; Tavarez 2002; Arroyave-Rincón et al. 2014).

Remarks. Cardisoma guanhumi was first reported in Barbados by Theodore N. Gill in 1862, who described it as Cardisoma diurnum , a new species for Barbados. Rathbun (1921) reported 3 specimens of C. guanhumi collected during the Barbados-Antigua expedition in 1918; these specimens were collected in a mangrove swamp, north of Bridgetown. The Smithsonian-Hartford Expedition in 1937 collected two (2) male specimens of Cardisoma guanhumi from Joe’s River, Barbados. These specimens are stored at the USNM (catalogue # 73309). Another specimen, collected by Humes A. G. and Goodingi R. U. on July 23 rd 1959, was also deposited at the USNM (catalogue # 104195). Jones (1968a: 158) reported the species Cardisoma crassum Smith, 1870 for Barbados, but this record is doubtful. His description of C. crassum matches that of a C. guanhumi specimen. Jones did not deposit the specimens of C. crassum to the Barbados Museum or at any other institution. No specimens of C. crassum were found by the present study.

In Barbados, Cardisoma guanhumi is highly valuable for subsistence fishing and is also the main target species of “crabbing”, a large cultural event that takes place bi-annually (Roger Huston, Pers. Com.), where these crabs are harvested by the local communities for consumption. This species is extensively harvested for local and commercial consumption throughout its range in the Caribbean as well as Central and South America ( Lutz & Austin 1983). In countries such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil, data on landings show that C. guanhumi populations have greatly declined due to over-harvesting and habitat destruction ( Rodríguez-Fourquet & Sabat 2009; Carmona-Suárez 2011; Govender 2019). There are three different color varieties of C. guanhumi found in Barbados. These includes the grey ( Fig. 7A ), orange ( Fig. 7B ), and blue variety. Color varieties in C. guanhumi are a result of the effects of different combinations of pigments present in the carapace and chromatophores of the epidermis ( Gifford 1962; Silva et al. 2014). Color patterns in C. guanhumi are associated with maturity and developmental stages, with orange and blue varieties reflecting the juvenile and transitional stages, respectively. The color patterns of the female adults (white, yellow and or grey) are related to ovulation ( Gifford 1962; Silva & Oshiro 2002; Tedford 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 2A. Semi-terrestrial and estuarine habitats of Barbados. A, B, Coastal Wetlands; C, D, Rocky Shores (Photos: N. Parasram).

FIGURE 7. Habitus of Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille in Latreille, Le Peletier, Serville & Guérin, 1828 (BLSZ 111). A, B, dorsal view of male and female; C, D, ventral view of male and female. Scale bar: 20 mm.