Recognition characters. — Closely resembling 0. 

 ocellatus, but differing in the following char- 

 acters : dorsal aspect of carapace not covered with 

 ocellated spots; body flatter than 0. ocellatus, and 

 carapace evenly granulate overall except for 

 smooth area on rear central portion; outer orbital 

 and frontal teeth more acute than in 0. ocellatus, 

 median frontal tooth acuminate; iridescent spot 

 between fourth and fifth anterolateral spines 

 larger than spots between first to fourth teeth and 

 nearly semicircular in shape; external ridge on 

 palm of chelipeds with tubercles not uniform in 

 size giving a roughened appearance in individuals 

 larger than 30 mm. in width. 



Measurements. — Carapace: male, length, 67 

 mm., width, 82 mm.; female, length, 56 mm., 

 width, 67 mm. 



Variations. — The distance between the sub- 

 orbital angles tends to increase relatively with 

 age. 



Color. — "General color of carapace light lav- 

 ender gray underlaid with dull yellow, some 

 specimens darker or lighter, with a regular pat- 

 tern of lighter spots dull yellow, off white, or 

 bluish yellow to lavender yellow, rear border of 

 carapace light blue; spines of carapace purplish 

 red at base to red or purple subdistally, white at 

 tips; carpus and merus of chelipeds somewhat 

 same color as carapace except pink flesh colored 

 at carpo-meral joint and on hand; fingers white 

 on inner surface, and with white teeth ; large spine 

 at internal angle of carpus and a few small but 

 distinct spots on superoexternal surface of hand 

 purple, large spine grading to lighter purple on 

 body of carpus; anterior border of chela and first 

 three pairs of walking legs with a longitudinal 

 band of brownish purple, band extending to 

 lower border of dactyl on chela; dactyls of first 

 three walking legs and outer border of hand im- 

 mediately below external ridge, same color, some- 

 times darker on dactyl with teeth same color, 

 distal tip of immovable finger similarly colored; 

 blade of swimming leg yellowish; underparts 

 light. 



"Iridescent spots between anterolateral teeth, 

 on distal or dorsal surface of external carpal spine 

 and along upper edge of hand, at superodistal 

 corner of merus on first three walking legs and 

 along dorsal edge of first three pairs of walking 

 legs distally, or dorsal surface of second abdom- 



inal segment; spot between fourth and fifth an- 

 terolateral spines nearly semicircular" ("Williams, 

 1962). 



Habitat. — Taken on sandy bottom in the Caro- 

 linas and from similar bottoms elsewhere, accord- 

 ing to literature records; surface to 49 fathoms 

 ( rarely to 925 fathoms ? ) . 



Type locality. — Guadeloupe. 



Known range. — Cape Hatteras, N.C., to Port 

 Aransas, Tex. ; Guadeloupe ; Brazil. 



Remarks. — The distinctions between this spe- 

 cies and 0. ocellatus were discussed by Williams 

 (1962). There is a distinct color difference, 

 pointed out in the color descriptions, and an ap- 

 parent difference in habitat among the adults. 

 Adults of 0. guadulpensis are found farther from 

 shore than adults of 0. ocellatus in the Carolinas, 

 but the young of both species are found near 

 shore, as pointed out by a number of authors. 



Ovigerous females are known from North Caro- 

 lina in January. 



Subfamily Portuninae 

 Genus Portunus Weber, 1795 



Rathhun. 1930a, p. 33. — Hemming, 1958b, p. 133. — Stephenson 

 and Campbell, 1959, p. 85. 



Stephenson and Campbell (1959) gave a num- 

 ber of arguments for and against the utility of 

 subgeneric limitations within this genus as now 

 understood. Though subgeneric subdivisions may 

 be useful in the limited Carolinian fauna, they are 

 being deleted here. 



KEY TO SPECIES IN THE CAROLINAS 



a. Carapace wide ; anterolateral margins forming arc of 

 a circle with center near posterior margin of carapace, 

 b. Interocnlar teeth six, inner orbital tooth being entire, 

 c. Carapace convex, mostly smooth and glossy ; palms 

 swollen, only one spine on upper margin in addi- 

 tion to spine at base of dactyl sayi (p. 163). 



cc. Carapace uneven, not smooth and glossy ; two 

 spines on upper margin of palm in addition to 



spine at base of dactyl anceps (p. 163). 



bb. Interocular teeth eight, inner orbital tooth being 



bilobed gibbcsii (p. 164). 



aa. Carapace narrow ; anterolateral margins forming are 

 of a circle with center near middle of cardiac region, 

 b. Interocular teeth eight, inner orbital tooth being 



bilobed spininuinns (p. 165). 



bb. Interocular teeth six, inner orbital tooth being en- 

 tire or notched laterally. 



c. Superoexternal surface of chela with a conspicu- 

 ous, smooth, silvery, or iridescent area 



(trdirayi (p. 166). 



162 



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