Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. Lond. (Zool.) 62(1): 31-36 



Issued 27 June 1996 



Reassessment of 'Calcinus 9 astathes Stebbing, 



1924 



(Crustacea: Anomura: Paguridea: Diogenidae) 



patsy a. Mclaughlin 



Shannon Point Marine Center, 1900 Shannon Point Road, Anacortes, WA 98221-4042, U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 31 



Material and Methods 31 



Systematic Account 32 



Redescription 32 



Distribution 34 



Affinities 34 



Remarks 35 



Acknowledgements 35 



References 35 



Synopsis. A reexamination of the syntypes of 'Calcinus' astathes Stebbing, 1924 in the collection of The Natural History 

 Museum, London. U.K., has shown that although subsequently assigned correctly to the genus Clibanarius, this taxon is 

 not conspecific with C. virescens Krauss, 1 843, as was previously proposed at that time. Clibanarius astathes is redescribed 

 and illustrated; a lectotype is designated. 



INTRODUCTION 



Stebbing (1924) described a new species of hermit crab from 

 Delagoa Bay, South Africa, which he mistakenly assigned to 

 Calcinus Dana, 1851. The fact that this species clearly should 

 have been placed in Clibanarius Dana, 1852 was recognized by 

 Barnard (1947); however, at that time he made only the notation 

 that four specimens returned to the South African Museum by 

 Stebbing were indistinguishable from Clibanarius virescens 

 (Krauss, 1843). Barnard (1950) went on to define those four 

 specimens further by commenting, 'I would not have ventured to 

 dispute the identity of Stebbing's Calcinus astathes if there had 

 not been four specimens returned to the Museum bearing 

 Stebbing's autographic label (the largest and type specimen 

 probably retained by him, or perhaps now transferred to the 

 British Museum). These four specimens are obviously C. 

 virescens. The dactyl of the 3rd leg is not longer than 6th joint, 

 and has the characteristic shape'. 



Stebbing's (1924) original description of Calcinus astathes 

 specified only a 'group' of specimens collected from Delagoa 

 Bay by K.H. Barnard on October 12, 1912. Five specimens, 

 listed as syntypes of this taxon are part of the Stebbing 

 Collection donated to The Natural History Museum (NHM) 

 [formerly British Museum (Natural History)] by Barnard, 

 although only three initially were listed in the Museum registry 

 (NHM 1928.12.1.264-266). Four specimens, dry, and in poor 

 condition, remain in the collection of the South African 

 Museum (SAM) catalogued under the original number (A2121) 



listed by Stebbing (1924). Barnard's hand written label 

 accompanying the dry specimens reads 'A2121 . Delagoa Bay 4 

 spec, returned by Stebbing labelled (sic) as 'Calcinus astathes' 

 also 1 with parasites see Stebbing. 1920'. Barnard's label 

 reference to the parasitized specimen must refer to a specimen 

 without chelipeds included by Stebbing (1920), with others 

 (NHM 1928.12.1.267-268, SAM A3270 A2120), identified as 

 Calcinus laevimanus (Randall, 1840), the former specimen 

 similarly placed in synonymy with C. virescens by Barnard 

 (1950: 435). No specimens of Calcinus or Clibanarius astathes 

 were listed among the type collection in the South African 

 museum by Kensley (1974), and none have been found on a 

 recent search (Ms. L. Hoenson, pers. comm.). 



Despite some confusion in the initial NHM registry entry for 

 ' Calcinus' astathes, at least two points are clear. These five 

 specimens labeled as syntypes of Stebbing's (1924) species all 

 belong to the same taxon; none are conspecific with Clibanarius 

 virescens. The four specimens remaining in the SAM collection 

 truly do represent C virescens. The largest of the NHM 

 specimens [and the one presumably unaccounted for by Barnard 

 (1950)] is herein designated as the lectotype of 'Calcinus' 

 astathes. 



MATERIAL AND METHODS 



In addition to the syntypes, and Barnard's four specimens of 

 Clibanarius virescens, comparative material of a 



©The Natural History Museum, 1996 



