WILLIAMS: MUD CRAB. PARTITION INTO SIX SPECIES 



Dutch West Indies: 7585, 42979, 56889.— 191173. 

 1M; Netherlands Antilles; Gosner, September 1968. 



Panama: 44180, 44181, 59319.— 191153. 1M; 

 Laguna de Chirigui; F. Richardson, 2 April 1936.— 



139587. 2F; Canal Zone, Ft. Sherman, Shimmey 

 Beach, intertidal; L. G. Abele, 8 February 1969.— 



139588. 1M; Canal Zone, Galeta Island, small 

 lagoon; L. G. Abele, 14 May 1969.— 139589. IF; 

 Canal Zone, Galeta Island, mangrove swamp, inter- 

 tidal; L. G. Abele, 24 May 1969.— 139590. 2M; 

 Canal Zone, Galeta Island, mangrove swamp, inter- 

 tidal; L. G Abele, 14 July 1969.— 153994. 7M, 4F; 

 Canal Zone, Galeta Island, mangrove swamp; L. G. 

 Abele, 14 July 1969.— 153995. 3M; Canal Zone; L. 

 G. Abele, 1971.— 155266. 3M, IF (ovig.); Canal 

 Zone, Coco Solo Airfield, along seawall, 0.5 m; L. G. 

 Abele, 4 January 1969.— 155269. 3M, IF; Canal 

 Zone, Galeta Island, reef next to lab.; L. G. Abele, 1 1 

 March 1969.— 155267. IF (ovig.); Canal Zone, 

 Galeta Island, reef next to lab.; L. G Abele, 11 March 

 1969.— 155270. 1M; Canal Zone, Galeta Island, 

 mangroves; L. G. Abele, 14 July 1969. 



Colombia: 7562,25655. 



Brazil: 25732, 25733, 25734, 40584, 40585.— 

 75553. 1M; Recife, Pernambuco; von Ihering. — 

 75593. IF, 2 juv.; Bom Successo, Minas Geraes; D. 

 Cochran.— 90367. IF; Ilha do Fundito, 22°50'30"S, 

 43°14'W, Rio de Janeiro; L. de Oliveira, 15 Janu- 

 ary 1947. 



Hawaii: 81729. 1M, IF; Pearl Harbor, Oahu; C. H. 

 Edmondson, 1940.— 95605. 1M; Maunalua Bay, 

 Oahu, sand flats; C. H. Edmondson, 6 February 

 1953.— 99169. IF; Pearl Harbor, Oahu; C. E. Cut- 

 tress, 22 April 1950. 



YPM 470. 1M, IF; Aspinwall [= Colon, Pana- 

 ma!. 



(may be faded but evident after long preservation). 

 Major chela with teeth on fixed finger varied in size, a 

 group distal to level of basal tooth on dactyl enlarged 

 with cusps raised above straight line drawn between 

 angle at juncture of finger with anterior margin of 

 palm and tip of finger (= length of fixed finger); 

 cusps in proximal "molar area" of fixed finger broad, 

 often impacted, and worn severely, their external 

 faces and external side of finger swollen, flared, or 

 bowed outward from axis of finger. 



Measurements in mm. — A set of measurements for 

 length and width of the carapace of this species is 

 summarized in Tables 1 and 2 and graphically rep- 

 resented in Figure 9. 



Color. — Usually lighter in color than russet colored/ 5 . 

 obesus, often grayish dorsally, cream ventrally and on 

 lower parts of chelae. Reticulate pattern on outer sur- 

 face of chelae as in P. obesus and sometimes with 

 scattered spots on this surface. 



Type-locality. — The lagoons of Guadeloupe, hiding 

 under rocks* 



Known range. — The known geographic range of this 

 species, represented by material listed above, is 

 shallow and subtidal waters from Bermuda and 

 extreme southern Florida, through the West Indies, 

 and along the continental margin of the Caribbean 

 Sea and South America to Cabo Frio, BraziL The 

 species has been introduced in Hawaii, and, accord- 

 ing to a report by Edmonson (1962), apparently has 

 been known on the California coast for a number of 

 years. It is often associated with mangroves as well as 

 coarse substrates. 



Diagnosis. — Carapace with transverse lines of 

 granules, coarse granules on ocular and hepatic 

 regions and along anterolateral slopes, length 64.5- 

 78.57r width, x 69.3. Coalesced first and second teeth 

 of carapace often separated by deep rounded notch, 

 second broader than first but tips almost equally 

 prominent (variable in form); remaining teeth 

 outstanding (especially in adults), tips usually rec- 

 tangular to acute; arc drawn along tips of first four 

 teeth diverging laterally from arc drawn along base of 

 notches between teeth. Chelipeds bearing distinct 

 closely crowded granules, especially along anterior 

 edge of carpus and on upper and outer surface of 

 palm (often in obsolescent rugose pattern); distinct 

 reticulate pattern of color on outer surface of palm, 

 usually continued over its lower half, and accented 

 with random scatter of spots, mainly in upper half 



Remarks. — Desbonne's (1867) description clearly 

 applies to what is here recognized as a single species 

 of this Panopeus complex in the tropical western 

 Atlantic, and his long suppressed name, rather than 

 A. Milne Edwards' P. crassus, has priority. 



The large series of study specimens in the USNM 

 was augmented by excellent photographs of a syn- 

 type male of Panopeus crassus A. Milne Edwards 

 from Bahia which was kindly supplied to me from the 

 Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle by M. J. 

 Forest. Parenthetically, measurements for a male 

 given in the original description (cl 3 6 mm, cw65 mm) 

 of P. crassus depart considerably from the shape of 

 any specimens measured by me, but the dimensions 

 of the carapace of the figured male correspond to 

 those of the male from Bahia in the Paris Museum (cl 

 36 mm, cw 56 mm), suggesting that digits in measure- 



871 



