Measurements. — Length of carapace: oviger- 

 ous female, 18 mm. 



Habitat. — Shell bottom, and probably other 

 types (Lunz, 1939) ; to 2 fathoms. 



Type locality. — Tampa Bay, Fla. 



Known range. — Type locality, and Folly River 

 to Edisto Island, Charleston County, S.C. ; Gulf 

 coast of Texas. 



Remarks. — Lunz (1939) reported ovigerous 

 females from South Carolina in June, and they 

 are also known from there in July. 



Emerita talpoida (Say). Mole crab; sand bug 



Figures 115-116 



Hippa talpoida Say, 1817. p. 160. 

 Hippa emerita: Ortmann, 1896 (In part), p. 232. 

 Emerita talpoida: Hay and Shore, 191S, p. 416, pi. 30, fig. 8. — 

 Sehmitt, 1935a, p. 216, figs. 74 a, b. — Snodgrass, 1952. 



Figure 116. — Emerita talpoida (Say). 

 A, animal in dorsal view, antennae 

 extended ; B, animal in dorsal view, 

 abdomen extended ; C, animal in lat- 

 eral view (after Snodgrass, 1952). 



Recognition characters. — Body convex, oval; 

 carapace firm, with overlapping rugosities anteri- 

 orly, smoother and polished posteriorly. Anterior 

 margin with a small, blunt rostrum separated by 

 a rounded sinus on each side from a more promi- 

 nent and acute tooth ; an impressed, transverse 

 line behind rostrum, and a deeper, more strongly 

 curved one farther back. Posterolateral margins 

 extending downward to cover bases of legs; anter- 

 olateral margins concave and subserrate. 



Eyestalks long, slender; cornea minute. Anten- 

 nules approximately twice length of eyestalks; 



basal article with a strong, external spine; flagella 

 hairy, forming respiratory tube when approxi- 

 mated. Antennae, normally held concealed be- 

 neath third maxillipeds, nearly twice as long as 

 carapace when extended; first peduncular article 

 short, second one largest with outer margin pro- 

 duced into a strong, anteriorly directed spine 

 widely bifid at tip with a deep fissure below ; fla- 

 gellum densely beset laterally with eight rows of 

 fringed setae, outer rows longest. First pair of 

 legs directed forward, articles more or less hairy, 

 and with impressed, interrupted, transverse cili- 

 ated lines; dactyl rounded distally, fifth article 

 spinose distally. Second, third, and fourth legs 

 less strong, hairy, tips curved and foliaceous. 

 Fifth legs almost filamentous, entirely concealed 

 beneath abdomen. 



Abdomen broadest anteriorly, narrow posteri- 

 orly; flexed so that telson and sixth segment lie 

 beneath body. Uropods turned forward, resting 

 along sides of proximal segments. Telson elon- 

 gate, lanceolate, margined with reflected setae 

 above and inflected ones on edge; base with two 

 short, impressed lines. 



Measurements. — Length of carapace: males, 11 

 mm. ; females, 26 mm. 



Color. — Uniform pale yellowish brown (Snod- 

 grass, 1952) . 



Habitat. — Sandy beaches in and below surfline^ 

 to 2 fathoms in winter. 



Type locality — [East] coast of United States. 



Known range. — Harwich, [Barnstable County], 

 Mass., to east coast of Florida ; west coast of Flor- 

 ida to Grand Isle, La. ; Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico 

 (Sehmitt, 1935a). 



Remarks. — The general ecology of Emerita tal- 

 poida as a representative of the specialized sandy- 

 beach fauna has been studied by a number of 

 workers, especially Wharton (1942). The eggs 

 are bright orange when first laid and gradually 

 fade to a translucent dirty gray just before hatch- 

 ing. Wharton gave a figure of the mature sperm 

 cell, and Herrick (1892, pi. 25) gave figures of de- 

 velopmental stages in the egg. Wharton found 

 the breeding season in North Carolina to extend 

 from early June through September, and Fish 

 (1925) found larvae at Woods Hole, Mass., from 

 late July to early September. In Florida, oviger- 

 ous females have been found in November. The 

 larval stages were most completely described by 



140 



FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



