NO. 3536 DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS — CHACE 637 



Family Xanthidae 



Actaea margaritaria A. IVIilne-Edwards 



Adaea margaritaria A. Milne-Edwards, 1867, p. 41, pi. 21 bis, figs. 3-6.— Odhner, 



1925, p. 47, pi. 3, fig. 8. 

 Actaea (Adaea) margaritaria.— Monod, 1956, p. 294, figs. 357-360. 



Material: Off Rupert's Bay; buoy; 0-2 meters; Feb. 2, 1959; 1 

 male, 1 female.— Same; buoy and cable; 0-75 meters; Mar. 18, 1960; 

 1 male, 4 females.— Same; Apr. 5, 1962; 1 female.— Same ; buoy; 0-2 

 meters; Feb. 11, 1963; 3 females.— James Bay; collected by skin- 

 diver; April 1964; 2 males, 2 females (1 ovigerous). 



Measurements: Carapace lengths of males, 3.1-5.3 mm.; of females 

 without eggs, 3.2-7.3 mm.; of ovigerous female, 8.7 mm. 



Remarks: The smallest male and six of the eleven females (with 

 carapaces less than 5 mm. long) are evidently immature. 



The male gonopods of this species resemble those of A. ruppellii 

 (Krauss, 1843) from South Africa and the Indo-Pacific region, but I 

 cannot accept Odhner's suggestion that A. margaritaria may be only 

 subspecifically distinct from that species. Not only does A. ruppellii 

 attain a much greater size than has been recorded for A. margaritaria, 

 but it is a much hau-ier crab, and the dark color of the fixed finger 

 extends over somewhat less of the surface of the male chela than it 

 does in the Atlantic species. 



Distribution: Off West Africa from the Cape Verde Islands to 

 Annobon; St. Helena (new record). Subhttoral to 100 meters. 



Micropanope melanodactylus (A. Milne-Edwards) 



Figure 7 



Xanthodes melanodadylus A. Milne-Edwards, 1867, p. 39, pi. 21 bis, figs. 1, 2. 

 Micropanope polita Rathbun, 1893, p. 238.— Garth, 1946, p. 459, pi. 77, fig. 4. 

 Panopeus tanneri Faxon, 1893, p. 154. 

 Micropanope melanodactyla— Monod, 1956, p. 320, figs. 401-405. 



Material: Off Rupert's Bay; buoy cable; 0-75 meters; Apr. 5, 1962; 

 1 male.— Same; buoy; 0-2 meters; Feb. 11, 1963; 2 males. 



Measurements: All three specimens have carapace lengths of 4.0 



mm. 



Remarks : Comparison of homeotypes of Xanthodes melanodactylus 

 from the Cape Verde Islands with syntypes of Micropanope polita 

 Rathbun from the eastern Pacific off Baja Cahfornia and a syntype of 

 Panopeus tanneri Faxon from near Cocos Island has disclosed no 

 apparently significant differences in the form of the gonopods (fig.^ 7) 

 or in any other characters that cannot be referred to normal variation 

 in this variable species. Garth (1946, p. 462) noted that the 800 



