Clastotoechus nodosus ( Streets, 1872 )

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 : 18-20

Clastotoechus nodosus ( Streets, 1872) [?]

( Fig. 2 )

Petrolisthes nodosus Streets 1872: 133 ; Benedict 1901: 134.

Clastotoechus nodosus .— Haig 1960: 175, fig. 5(3); Rickner 1975: 163; Harvey 1999: 7, figs. 2, 4–15.

Clastoechus nodosus (lap. cal.).— Werding 1977: 178, not fig. 2 (see Harvey 1999); Werding 1978: 215, fig. 1a, b.

Clastoechus vanderhorsti (lap. cal.).— Werding 1977: fig. 3 (see Harvey 1999) [not Madarateuchus vanderhorsti ( Schmitt, 1924) ].

Not Clastotoechus nodosus . — Gore & Abele 1976: 15, fig. 2 [= Clastotoechus sp. , see Harvey (1999) and below].

Material examined. None.

Previous records from Panama. Gore & Abele (1976, but see below).

Distribution. West Atlantic: Mexico, Cuba, E Lesser Antilles, Colombia and Venezuela ( Harvey 1999); single record from Panama (Punta Galeta) problematic ( Harvey 1999; see also below).

Ecology. Largely intertidal; apparently restricted to exposed, high-energy rocky intertidal shores, inhabiting deep rock crevices (Werding 1978; Harvey 1999).

Remarks. Gore & Abele (1976) recorded a clearly juvenile specimen collected from the “littoral” of Punta Galeta (possibly on the outer, more exposed part of the Punta Galeta reef flat), which these authors identified as C. nodosus . Harvey (1999) re-examined this specimen and concluded that it was morphologically undistinguishable from the eastern Pacific C. hickmani Harvey, 1999 , at least from the juvenile specimens of similar size. According to Harvey, the three most plausible explanations for the species misidentification in Gore & Abele (1976) are: (1) the Punta Galeta specimen is indeed C. hickmani , which in this case would represent a transisthmian species occurring on both the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic coasts; (2) Gore & Abele’s specimen could represent a new western Atlantic sister species of C. hickmani ; (3) there was a confusion in the labels accompanying the Punta Galeta specimen, i.e. the actual collection site of Gore & Abele’s specimen may have been in the eastern Pacific (although this possibility seems to be the least likely). Whatever the case may be, more material of Clastotoechus from Punta Galeta is highly desirable to elucidate the taxonomic identity of C. nodosus sensu Gore & Abele (1976) , tentatively listed as C. cf. nodosus , separately from C. nodosus , in Table 1.

The occurrence of true C. nodosus on the Caribbean coast of Panama, although highly likely, needs confirmation. The presence of C. nodosus in Colombia and the south-western Gulf of Mexico ( Werding 1977; Harvey 1999; Felder et al. 2009) suggests that it must be present in Panama ( Table 1). However, due to the species’ confinement to exposed high-energy rocky areas, its collection is quite challenging. For the purpose of an eventual collection of either C. nodosus or C. nodosus sensu Gore & Abele (1976) [ C. cf. nodosus ], colour photographs of C. nodosus from the south-western Gulf of Mexico and Colombia are provided in Fig. 2. A colour photograph of C. hickmani from Galápagos can be found in Hickman & Zimmerman (2000: p. 67).

Another Atlantic species formerly assigned to Clastotoechus , now Madarateuchus vanderhorsti ( Schmitt, 1924) , is known from Colombia ( Werding 1977; Harvey 1999), including the Golfo de Urabá adjacent to Guna Yala province of Panama (J.F. Lazarus, pers. comm.). Therefore, its presence in Panama is also very likely ( Table 1). Noteworthy is that M. vanderhorsti has a very striking colour pattern (Werding 1978; see also Fig. 88A ) and seems to be associated with (or is at least often found near) the common boring sea urchins, Echinometra lucunter (Linnaeus) ( Werding 1983; Harvey 1999), which should facilitate future searches for this interesting species in Panama.

Genus Euceramus Stimpson, 1860

Figures

FIGURE 2. Clastotoechus nodosus (Streets, 1872): extra-limital specimens (not examined, see text for more details); A, male from the south-western Gulf of Mexico (ULLZ/USNM) [photograph courtesy of Darryl L. Felder]; B, male from Golfo de Urabá, Colombia [photograph courtesy of Juan-Felipe Lazarus-Agudelo].

FIGURE 88. Some Caribbean Porcellanidae reported from Colombia, in all likelihood also occurring in Panama: A, Madarateuchus vanderhorsti (Schmitt, 1924), male from Santa Marta, Colombia (CRBM-UV), dorsal view [photograph courtesy of Juan Felipe Lazarus-Agudelo]; B, Parapetrolisthes tortugensis (Glassell, 1945), ovigerous female from Utila, Honduras (not deposited), dorsal view; C, Petrolisthes amoenus (Guérin-Méneville, 1855), male from Saint Martin (FLMNH UF 32408), dorsal view, right P1 missing [photographs in B and C by AA]; D, Petrolisthes virgilius Hiller & Werding, 2019, male from Golfo de Urabá, Colombia (CRBM-UV), dorsal view [photograph courtesy of Juan Felipe Lazarus-Agudelo].