24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 120 
The Portunus gladiator Complex 
Crosnier (1962) concluded that P. pseudoargentatus Stephenson 
(1961a) is synonymous with his P. gladvator; however, the present 
collection contains three specimens identical with P. pseudoargentatus 
and two identical with P. gladiator Crosnier. ‘These differ in a 
sufficient number of small particulars for P. pseudoargentatus to stand 
as a valid species. 
Crosnier suspected that numerous confusions had occurred in the 
past regarding P. gladiator and particularly that P. gladiator Stephenson 
and Campbell (1959) differed from the species he recognized under 
this name. Reexamination of Stephenson and Campbell’s material 
confirms that this is so. The penultimate segment of the male 
abdomen in Stephenson and Campbell’s species is not swollen in its 
distal third, and the ultimate segment is more rounded and elongate. 
(Note that the plates in Stephenson and Campbell are mislabelled, 
the male abdomen of P. gladiator is plate 4, figure I, not figure J.) 
In addition, the carapace granulation is much coarser and more 
obvious, with posterolaterals almost merging with mesobranchials, 
and these again almost merging with the epibranchials. In addition, 
the serrated distal border of the fifth merus bears a posterior spine, 
not an anterior spinous projection. Until the “true” P. gladiator has 
finally been decided upon, by reference to Fabricius type, the correct 
name for P. gladiator Stephenson and Campbell must remain un- 
decided. 
Yet other authors have described different species under P. 
gladiator. Thus the shape of the male abdomen figured by Sakai 
(1939, fig. 5a) differs from those figured similarly by Shen (1937, 
fig. 2b) and Crosnier (1962, fig. 72), and described by Alcock (1899) 
and Barnard (1950). Sakai’s figure is identical with that of P. 
pseudoargentatus Stephenson (1961a, pl. 4F), and his colored plate 
(pl. 47, fig. 3) is generally similar to P. pseudoargentatus and specifi- 
cally bears an identical pigmentation of the propodus and dactylus 
of the fifth leg. It is concluded that P. gladiator Sakai and P. 
pseudoargentatus are synonyms. 
De Haan’s (1835) description and figures of Portunus (Amphitrite) 
gladiator appear to resemble P. pseudoargentatus more closely than 
P. gladiator Crosnier in possessing a parallel-sided male abdomen. 
The position as regards shape of the merus of the fifth leg is more 
ambiguous. The left side of de Haan’s plate 1, figure 5, shows a 
relatively broad merus, approximating to P. gladiator Crosnier and 
the right side a relatively elongate one, approximating to P. pseudo- 
argentatus (see p. 25). Because de Haan’s plate shows pigmentation 
of the fifth leg resembling that of P. pseudoargentatus and because the 
