Tubuca alcocki, a new pseudocryptic species of fiddler crab from the Indian Ocean, sister to the southeastern African T. urvillei (H. Milne Edwards, 1852) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Ocypodidae)

By

Shih, Hsi-Te
Chan, Benny K.K.
Ng, Peter K. L.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

747

Pages

41-62

Subjects

mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I , molecular clock , Morphology , new species , Tubuca alcocki , Tubuca urvillei

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.747.23468

 

Abstract

A new pseudocryptic species of fiddler crab,Tubucaalcockisp. n., is described from the northern Indian Ocean. The new species was previously identified withT.urvillei(H. Milne Edwards, 1852), but can be distinguished by the structures of the anterolateral angle of the carapace and male first gonopod. The molecular data of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene shows that both are sister taxa and the divergence time is estimated at 2.2 million years ago, around the beginning of the Pleistocene. While the new species is widely distributed in the northern part of Indian Ocean, occurring from the Red Sea to India and the Andaman Sea;T.urvilleisensu stricto has a more restricted range, and is known only from southeastern Africa.