Foza ambohitra Cumberlidge & Meyer, 2009

Cumberlidge, Neil, Klaus, Sebastian, Meyer, Kirstin S. & Koppin, Jennifer C., 2015, New collections of freshwater crabs from northern Madagascar, with the description of a new species of Foza Reed & Cumberlidge, 2006 (Brachyura, Potamonautidae), and comments on their conservation status, European Journal of Taxonomy 109, pp. 1-15 : 10

Foza ambohitra Cumberlidge & Meyer, 2009

Material examined

MADAGASCAR: 2 adult ♂♂, Antsiranana Province, Ankarana Special Reserve, 12.92° S, 49.14° E, coll. F. Glaw, M. Franzen, J. Köhler & N. d’Cruze, 13 Feb. 2008 (CW 50, Cl 31.6; CW 43, CL 30) ( ZSM A20145001, ZSM A20145002).

Distribution

This species was described by Cumberlidge & Meyer (2009) from specimens collected in Antsiranana Province, northern Madagascar, at Ambohitra (formerly Joffreville) in the Diana Region, and at two localities in the Analamerana Special Reserve. The present report adds a new locality for this species: the Ankarana Special Reserve ( Fig. 4 ). In light of the new material and preliminary DNA analysis, it is possible that the specimen from Toamasina Province, Montagne d’Akirindro (NMU PN 17– 21.3.2003), included in F. ambohitra by Cumberlidge & Meyer (2009), may not prove to belong to this species (S.R. Daniels, pers. comm.).

Remarks

Foza ambohitra is a medium-sized species that lives in the mixed dry deciduous and humid forests of northern Madagascar. The species can be recognized by its anterolateral margins (granular), its carapace sidewalls (completely smooth except for a small field of granules at the junction of the longitudinal and vertical sutures), and by its sternal sulcus s3/s4 (which is complete, U-shaped, and does not meet the sternoabdominal cavity).

The material reported on here also includes two small juvenile crabs (CW 9.5, CL 7.6 and CW 9.0, CL 7.2) (ZSM A20145014) from the Ankarana Special Reserve that are difficult to identify because their morphology includes a number of characters that have yet to develop to the adult form. Nevertheless, these specimens clearly belong to the genus Foza and were collected at the same locality as the specimens of F. ambohitra (ZSM A20145001, ZSM A20145002). However, we hesitate to assign these juvenile specimens to F. ambohitra because they possess dense fields of setae on the anterior pterygostomial region of the carapace sidewall, and because they have very elongated walking legs, both of which are characters that would place them close to F. raimundi .

Figures

Fig. 4. Distribution map of northern Madagascar showing the seven localities (black circles) where freshwater crabs were collected in the present study: Foza manonae sp. nov. (white circles), F. ambohitra (triangle), and Madagapotamon humberti (squares).