REASSESSMENT OF 'CALCINUS' ASTATHES 



35 



presence of a spine at the ventrolateral distal angle of the merus 

 of the third right and left pereopods, the number and spacing of 

 the corneous spinules on the ventral margins of the ambulatory 

 dactyls, and the spination of the terminal margins of the telson 

 appear quite variable in C. longitarsus. Too few specimens of C. 

 astathes are known for any evaluation of morphological 

 variation. 



Remarks. Stebbing's (1924) comments on the genus Calcinus 

 emphasized as did his earlier remarks (Stebbing, 1914), the 

 development of the maxillipeds, which seems to suggest that he 

 was not really familiar with the overall morphology of Calcinus 

 species. Finding similar maxillipedal development in his new 

 taxon, Stebbing (1924) assigned astathes to this genus, with 

 apparent disregard for the numerous characters which set 

 Clibanarius apart from Calcinus. 



It also would appear that the telson of the specimen he 

 described and illustrated (Stebbing, 1924: 240, pi. 2T) was not 

 closely examined, as it was characterized and depicted as being a 

 simple plate with a smoothly rounded terminal margin. In 

 actuality, the telson has a slight transverse suture dividing it into 

 anterior and posterior lobes; the posterior lobes are separated by 

 a small median cleft, and the terminal margins each have a few 

 distinct spines. 



Barnard (1950) was correct to transfer Stebbing's (1924) taxon 

 to Clibanarius, although this transfer was obscured by his 

 placement of the species in synonymy with C. virescens. Calcinus 

 astathes Stebbing, 1924 was still listed by Gordan (1956) in her 

 comprehensive tabulation of hermit crab species, and more 

 recently was included by Morgan ( 1 99 1 ) in his world-wide listing 

 of known Calcinus species. Barnard's (1950) decision regarding 

 the conspecificity of Clibanarius astathes and C. virescens 

 appears to have been based on specimens incorrectly labeled by 

 Stebbing, and not on the actual type material of C astathes. Not 

 only the fact that the Natal-Mozambique areas of South Africa 

 are type localities of both species, but also the inadequacy of 

 Stebbing's (1924) original description and illustrations, 

 undoubtedly account for Barnard's (1950) synonymy having 

 been accepted, without question, by subsequent carcinologists. 



One of the principal characters upon which Barnard (1950) 

 based his identification of C virescens was the shortness of the 

 dactyls of the third pereopods in relation to the propodi, 

 although, as pointed out by Lewinsohn (1982), this character 

 was not mentioned in Krauss' (1843) original description of the 

 species. Not only Barnard (1950), but Fize and Serene (1955), 

 and Gherardi and McLaughlin (1994) reported that the dactyls 

 of their specimens were shorter than the propodi; however, 

 Buitendijk (1937), Miyake (1978), and Lewinsohn (1982) 

 described the dactyls and propodi as being equal in length. 

 Rahayu and Forest (1993) found the dactyls longer than the 

 propodi in small specimens, but shorter in large specimens. 

 Stebbing (1924), like Krauss (1843), made no mention of the 

 length ratios of the dactyls and propodi of the ambulatory legs 

 of C. astathes. 



Despite the variations in this major diagnostic character 

 observed in C. virescens, C. astathes sensu stricto differs 

 markedly from Krauss' (1843) taxon. The dactyls of the 

 ambulatory legs of C. astathes are approximately half again the 

 length of the propodi. Additionally, the ventral margins of the 

 ambulatory dactyls are armed with 10 to 14 tiny corneous 

 spinules in C. astathes, in contrast to the five to eight strong 

 corneous spines seen in C virescens. As previously indicated, C. 

 astathes bears a far greater similarity to that group of 



Clibanarius species characterized by long pereopodal dactyls 

 and very short antennal acicles. 



Acknowledgements. I am indebted to Paul Clark, The Natural 

 History Museum. London, for the loan of Stebbing's syntypic material, 

 and to Barbara Cook and Liz Hoenson, South African Museum, Cape 

 Town, for providing the specimens upon which Barnard based his 

 synonymy. The photographs are to work of E.J. McGeorge. This a 

 scientific contribution from the Shannon Point Marine Center, Western 

 Washington University. 



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