Variations. — There is some individual variation 

 in the pattern of spines on the anterior margin of 

 the carapace. Spines may vary in number, be sin- 

 gle, or occasionally be so close together as to ap- 

 pear doubled. 



Color. — Light brown to orange tan above, cross 

 striae lighter, with irregularly placed iridescent 

 areas ; antennules with alternating light and dark 

 bands ; eyestalks with a white ring behind cornea ; 

 underparts light (from recently preserved speci- 

 mens) . Light purple with whitish markings, more 

 or less iridescent (various authors) . 



Habitat. — Sandy bottoms; extreme low-tide 

 mark to 35 fathoms. 



Type locality. — St. Augustine, Fla. (Stimp- 

 son) ; Sullivans Island, S.C. (Gibbes). 



Known range. — East of Cape Lookout, N.C., 

 to Texas ; through West Indies to Sao Sebastiao, 

 Sao Paulo, Brazil. 



Remarks. — Albunea gibbesii is occasionally 

 found on sandy shoals, especially at times of ex- 

 tremely low tides when heat from the sun warms 

 the exposed sand and drives the animals to the 

 surface. Occasional specimens are found by dig- 

 ging, and specimens have been taken in both the 

 Carolinas by dredging to depths of 35 fathoms. 



Ovigerous females have been taken in North 

 Carolina in June. 



Pearse, Humm, and Wharton (1942) showed 

 that A. gibbesii burrows backward into the sand 

 as do the similar highly specialized sand dwellers, 

 Lepidopa websteri and Emerita talpoida. These 

 authors stated that A. gibbesii scrapes food from 

 the setose antennules with the mouth parts; how- 

 ever, the chelate first legs and well-developed man- 

 dibles suggest feeding habits more like those of 

 Lepidopa species. The function of the antennules 

 as a possible feeding device was discussed by 

 Benedict (1904). 



Albunea paretii Guerin. 



Figures 112-113 

 Albunea oxuophthalma Leach (MS) in White, 1847b, p. 57 

 (nomen nudum). 

 Albunea paretii Gu6rln, 1853, p. 48, pi. 1, figs. 10-lOa. 

 Albunea paretoi: Monod, 1956, p. 37, figs. 2-9 (rev.). 



Recognition characters. — Similar to A. gibbesii, 

 differing chiefly in characters given in key ; dactyl 

 of second legs with asymmetrically mucronate 

 spur, third legs with acute, falciform spur at base 

 of anterior border. 



Figure 112. — Dactyls of second to fourth legs ( from right 

 to left); upper row, Albunea paretii Guerin; lower 

 row, Albunea gibbesii Stimpson (after Gordon, 1938). 



Figure 113. — Albunea paretii 

 Guertn. Animal in dorsal view, 

 legs of left side not shown, 5 

 mm. indicated. 



MARINE DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OF THE CAROLINAS 



137 



