Achelous ventralis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1879)

Parasram, Nadeshinie, Santana, William & Vallès, Henri, 2023, Checklist of the shallow-water marine Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Barbados, West Indies, Zootaxa 5314 (1), pp. 1-62 : 34

Achelous ventralis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1879)

( Fig. 16C )

Neptunus ventralis A. Milne-Edwards, 1879: 215 , pl. 40. fig. 3–3b [type-locality: Guadeloupe; type in MNHN].

Portunus (Portunus) sulcatus .— Rathbun 1921: 67.

Portunus (Portunus) ventralis .— Rathbun, 1930: 43, 45, pl. 13, figs. 1, 2; 1933: 46; 1936: 383; Coelho et al. 2008: 31 ; Ng et al. 2008: 152.

Portunus ventralis .— Keith 1985: 263, fig. 7A; Abele & Kim 1986: 54; Melo 1996: 330, unnumbered fig.; Bertini et al. 2004: 2199; Mantelatto et al. 2009: 557, tab. 1; Rodrigues et al. 2016: 9, fig. 4D; Poupin 2018: 209, fig. 233; Mantelatto et al. 2020: 67 .

Achelous ventralis . — Koch et al. 2022: 12.

Distribution. Western Atlantic: USA (Georgia to Florida), Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Gulf of Mexico, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Bonaire, Venezuela, Brazil ( Abele & Kim 1986; Rodrigues et al. 2016; Poupin 2018).

Material examined. Barbados, Brandons , St. Michael, subtidal, 13°06’59.88”N, 59°37’44.52”W, 1 Ô CW: 9.3 mm ( BLSZ 056 ) . Port St. Charles, St. Peter , subtidal, 13°15’51.81”N, 59°38’36.34”W, 1 ♀ CW: 8.5 mm ( BLSZ 040 ) . Jordans, St. James , nearshore rubble, 13°14’48.24”N, 59°38’40.90”W, 1 Ô CW: 29.1 mm ( BLSZ 185 ) . Drill Hall , St. Michael, nearshore rubble, 13°04’36.30”N, 59°36’26.63”W, 1 Ô CW: 10.3 mm ( MZUSP 40920 ) .

Remarks. Specimens of Portunus ventralis were collected on the west coast of Barbados by hand in nearshore rubble habitat, at low tide, under rubble rock and in crab traps on sandy bottom (~ 4m deep). Portunus ventralis can be identified by having four teeth on the frontal margin, the median pair are small, reduced, and fused at base; the lateral pair are subtriangular and separated from median pair by a deep V- shaped sinuous (modified from Rathbun 1930).

Genus Callinectes Stimpson, 1860

Figures

FIGURE 16. Superfamily Portunoidea Rafinesque, 1815, dorsal habitus: A, Achelous anceps (de Saussure, 1857), male, cw 30.5 mm (BLSZ 271); B, Achelous sebae (H. Milne Edwards, 1834), female, cw 56.6 mm (BLSZ 245); C, Achelous ventralis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1879), male, cw 29.1 mm (BLSZ 185); D, Callinectes marginatus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1861), female, cw 81.8 mm (BLSZ 057); E, juvenile specimen of Callinectes marginatus, cw 20.0 mm (BLSZ 230). Scale bars: 20 mm.