Cryptodromia pileifera (Alcock, 1900)

(Figs. 11, 12)

Dromia (Cryptodromia) tuberculata var. pileifera Alcock, 1900: 141 .

Cryptodromia tuberculata var. pileifera .— Ihle, 1913: 36, 20 (list).— Buitendijk, 1939: 225; 1949: 60.— Daniel & Premkumar, 1968: 240.

Cryptodromia pileifera .— Alcock, 1901: 49, pl. 2: fig. 7.—Tan et al., 1986:111. — McLay 2001b: 828 (key).— McLay & Ng, 2005: 9, fig. 3.

Cryptodromia tuberculata .— McLay, 1993: 198.— Lim et al., 1994: 126 [not Cryptodromia tuberculata Stimpson, 1858].

Material examined. Western Australia: WAM C13522, Cheyne Beach, under granite boulders, intertidal, coll. B. R. Wilson, 11-05-1963: juv. 4.5 × 3.6 mm, male 10.4 × 8.9 mm; WAM C1534, Shark Bay, intertidal, 25°25’00”S, 113°35’00”E, September, 1960: 3 males 7.7 × 7.0 mm (with ascidian cap), 9.3 × 8.0 mm (with sponge caps), 12.0 × 11.0 mm (with sponge cap); WAM C13541, Port Gregory, 28°12’00”S, 114°15’00”E, coll. B. R. Wilson, under stones and corals, lagoon, 31-12-1962: female 6.9 × 6.4 mm (with sponge cap); WAM C3992, Bathurst Point, Rottnest Island, coll. L. Glauert, 5-11-1930: 3 males 4.2 × 3.2 mm, 6.0 × 5.1 mm, 11.7 × 10.1 mm; WAM C14669, Doubtful Island Bay, coll. P. Barret-Lennard, 15-01-1975: males 16.0 × 13.8 mm . Queensland: WAM C13540, Heron Island, Queensland, 23°27’00”S, 151°55’00”E, coll. R. W. George, 24-05-1961: female 9.2 × 8.8 mm (with sponge cap) .

Remarks. This species is very similar to Cryptodromia tuberculata (Fig. 13). Alcock (1900) proposed C. pileifera a sub-species of C. tuberculata, but in 1901 treated as a separate species. Comparison shows that in C. pileifera there are four evenly spaced anterolateral carapace teeth, with the last pair weaker (three teeth second and third separated by an edentate convex margin in C. tuberculata), the supraorbital margin is concave and weakly eave-like (supraorbital margin concave strongly eave-like), and the cheliped fingers are narrow, curved, gape slot-like (fingers stout, straighter, gape triangular). Both of these species have comparatively large eggs and C. pileifera only has a single larval stage (Tan et al. 1986). Cryptodromia tuberculata has even larger eggs (> 1.2 mm diameter) and so may well have an even shorter larval phase. Clutch size is correspondingly smaller, often with fewer than 10 eggs.

Distribution. India, Singapore, Southeast Asia, and Philippines. The present material is a new record for Australia. Cryptodromia pileifera has been collected intertidally and from shallow sub-tidal depths.