Gaillardiellus rueppellii ( Krauss, 1843 )

Shaga, I Bevin, Priya, K, Ramar, Selvakumar, Srinidhi, S, Mohan, G Chandra, Ranganathan, Sukanya, Moulvi, S M M & Mani, Bhuvaneswari, 2023, A Small Collection of Subtidal Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from the Palau Islands Collected by Dredging, Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science. Series A, Zoology 49 (1), pp. 7-42 : 26

Gaillardiellus rueppellii ( Krauss, 1843)

( Fig. 9A)

Material examined. Off Kwannon , Koror, Palau Is., dredged, with coralline algae; 1Ə (cb 8.8×cl 6.6 mm), NSMT-Cr 30985; June 17, 1980; K. Baba leg. ʕ Inside of Gesodokkuru Reef , off Arumonogui, Babelthuap I., Palau Is., dredged, ca. 20 m in depth, dead coral and sand; 1 ovig.8 (9.0×7.0 mm), NSMT-Cr 30986; July 13, 1980; K. Baba leg.

Remarks. The specimens examined agree with the photographs given by Guinot (1976) who established the genus Gaillardiellus for Cancer (Aegle) rüppellii Krauss, 1843 [= Actaea rueppellii ] and allied three species, Actaea Alphonsi Nobili, 1905 , A. ruppelli var. orientalis Odhner, 1925 [= A. orientalis ] and A. superciliaris Odhner, 1925 . Then, Davie (1997) described a new species, G. bathus from New Caledonia, 270–312m in depth, which was later recorded by Takeda and Webber (2006) from the Kermadec Islands, 80–162 m in depth. Otherwise, Takeda (1997) and Takeda and Komatsu (2018) insisted that Actaea bocki Odhndr, 1925 should be transferred to Guillardiellus.

The colored photographs of G. rueppellii were given by Mendoza et al. (2014) and Takeda and Komatsu (2018) based on the specimens from the Cocos Keeling Islands and the Ogasawara Islands, respectively. In the present specimen long preserved in the spirit, the blackish color of the bristles is entirely faded out.

Distribution. Not uncommon in the whole Indo-West Pacific, 50–105 m in depth.