THE SPIDER CRABS OF AMERICA 



47 



; c o 

 Si'' 



•b w'b o* 







Fig. 



12.— PODOCHELA GR.\CILIPES, 

 (18089), LEFT CHELA, X 6 



PODOCHELA GRACnJPES Stimpson 



Plate 17 



Podochela gracilipes Stimpson, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 2, 

 1871, p. 126 (type-localities, west of Tortugas, off Pacific and 

 Carysfort Reefs, 36 to 60 fathoms; types not extant). — A, 

 Milne Edwards, Crust. R6g. Mex., 1879, p. 192, pi. 35, 

 figs. 1-1&. — Rathbun, P*roc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 17, 

 1894, p. 50. 



Diagnosis, — Rostrum long, spiniform, unarmed. 

 Carapace much constricted behind orbits. Fingers 

 widely gaping in adult male. Legs filiform. 



Description.— A small species. Carapace narrow; a 

 rounded protuberance on 

 the cardiac region and 

 two smaller median pro- 

 tuberances on the gastric 

 region; two pterygosto- 

 mian tubercles; a small 

 tubercle at either end of 

 epistome which»together 

 with the projecting angles of the buccal cavity, is visible 

 in dorsal view in large specimens. On the male sternum 

 a thick blunt spine at base of cheliped. Basal antennal 

 article long and narrow, posteriorly with two blunt 

 margins which converge and unite anteriorly. 



Chelipeds stout in male; manus much inflated, fin- 

 gers gaping to near the tips, more widely gaping than 

 in any other Atlantic species,' 'the fixed finger slightly 

 bowed downward below the line of the manus ; a large 

 tooth near base of dactyl. Chelipeds slender in female. 

 Ambulatory legs very slender ;][first pair much the long- 

 est, three times as long as carapace; dactyli long and 

 almost straight, about one-third the length of the pre- 

 ceding segment; propodites of last three pairs thick- 

 ened toward distal end, dactyli somewhat scythe- 

 shaped; in second pair the dactylus is two-fifths as 

 long as propodus, in third pair one-half, in last pair 

 two-thirds as long as propodus. 



Measurements. — Male (18079), length of carapace 

 12.7, -width 8.7 mm. 



Range.— OH Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to Gulf 

 of Mexico, Caribbean Sea (to Colombia and Barbados), 

 and Cape Frio, Brazil. Depth, 18 to 79 fathoms. 



Material examined. — See table, pages 48-49. 



