Pachycheles susanae Gore & Abele, 1974

Ferreira, Luciane Augusto De Azevedo & Anker, Arthur, 2021, An annotated and illustrated checklist of the porcelain crabs of Panama (Decapoda: Anomura), Zootaxa 5045 (1), pp. 1-154 : 55

Pachycheles susanae Gore & Abele, 1974

( Figs. 28 , 29 )

Pachycheles susanae Gore & Abele 1974: 560 , fig. 1; Gore & Abele 1976: 20; Werding 1977: 195, fig. 16; Gore 1982: 10; Rodríguez et al. 2005: 557; Rodríguez et al. 2006: 154; Lira et al. 2012: 22, fig. 2A; Poupin 2018: 148.

Material examined. Panama [Caribbean]: 1 male, cl 4.4, cw 4.8 ( FLMNH UF 57133 ), Bocas del Toro, between Isla Bastimentos and Isla Solarte, 9°20’18.7”N, 82°13’02.8”W, depth less than 2 m, in dead coral, leg. P.P.G. Pachelle, 29.03.2019 (fcn PP 19-121); 1 ov. female, cl 4.8, cw 5.6 ( MZUSP 33470 ) , Isla Grande, south-western coast, depth 0.5–2 m in dead coral rocks, leg. A. Anker, J.F. Lazarus-Agudelo & T. Kaji, 27.03.2015 .

Previous records from Panama. Gore & Abele (1974); Gore (1982); Rodríguez et al. (2005).

Distribution. West Atlantic: Mexico, E Lesser Antilles, Panama (Bocas del Toro, “María Grande” near Colón, Punta Galeta, Isla Grande), Colombia and Venezuela ( Gore & Abele 1974; Gore 1982; Rodríguez et al. 2005; Poupin 2018; present study).

Ecology. Intertidal and shallow subtidal, known depth range: 0–3 m, possibly deeper; typically in crevices of coral rubble and fossilised coral reefs, also in thick clumps of Halimeda ( Gore & Abele 1974, 1976; present study).

Remarks. Pachycheles susanae can be most easily recognised by the presence of two large elongate patches on the carapace, just lateral to the cardiac region, and the ambulatory pereiopods covered by very thick setae, which often accumulate sediment particles and possibly microscopic epibionts ( Figs. 28 , 29 ; see also a black-and-white photograph in Lira et al. 2012).

Figures

FIGURE 28. Pachycheles susanae Gore & Abele, 1974: A, B, male (cl 4.4 mm, cw 4.8 mm) from Bocas del Toro, Panama (FLMNH UF 57133), dorsal (A) and ventral (B) view [photographs courtesy of Paulo P.G Pachelle].

FIGURE 29. Pachycheles susanae Gore & Abele, 1974: ovigerous female (cl 4.8 mm, cw 5.6 mm) from Isla Grande, Panama (MZUSP 33470), dorsal view [photograph by AA].