Paralomis granulosa ( Jaquinot, 1847 )

Hall, Sally & Thatje, Sven, 2010, King crabs up-close: ontogenetic changes in ornamentation in the family Lithodidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Anomura), with a focus on the genus Paralomis, Zoosystema 32 (3), pp. 495-524 : 500-502

Paralomis granulosa ( Jaquinot, 1847) ( Fig. 4)

Lithodes granulosa Jaquinot, 1847 : figs 15-21, plate 8.

Lithodes granulosus – White 1847: 56.

Lithodes granulata Jaquinot, 1853: 94 .

Lithodes verrucosa Dana, 1852: 428 ; 1855: pl. 26, fig. 16. — Cunningham 1871: 494.

Paralomis verrucosa Bouvier, 1895: 187 , pl. 13, fig. 3. — Bouvier 1896: 26.

Paralomis granulosa White, 1856: 134 .

DISTRIBUTION. — Patagonia and the Falkland islands, 5- 130 m.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 20 ♀♀ (CL 28-55 mm), 17 šš (CL 13-90 mm).

SPECIMENS FIGURED. — Strait of Le Maire, Tierra del Fuego, 25.IV.1971, 1 š CL 25.6 mm ( USNM- 231429). — Tierra del Fuego, 10 m, 1 ♀ CL 45.6 mm, 1 š CL 65.7 mm (both specimens, BMNH 152710).

REMARKS

Paralomis granulosa , studied by Ingle & Garrod (1987), demonstrates the ontogenetic progression of tubercular flattening observed in P. cubensis . Small specimens (particularly those CL 10-25 mm) are covered with very distinctive pedunculated irregular tubercles ( Fig. 4A, B), sometimes described as “boleate” ( Ingle & Garrod 1987). These progressively become less pedunculated ( Fig. 4D) until they are reduced to low tubercles ( Fig. 4F). This reduction does not happen evenly across the carapace, with the more lateral tubercles tending to flatten first. The largest specimen that we found bearing pedunculated tubercles was CL 35 mm. In very large specimens of up to CL 90 mm (not mentioned in the 1987 work on this species), the tubercular cover can be quite sparse, and fouling or wear on the carapace can be substantial, as moults become less frequent ( McCaughran & Powell 1977). Th e 1987 study of Falkland Island populations, conducted by Ingle & Garrod, is supported by our results, and can be generalised over the wider geographic range of the species.

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