Pitho aculeata ( Gibbes, 1850 )

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 : 28

Pitho aculeata ( Gibbes, 1850)

( Figs. 12A–E )

Hyas aculeata Gibbes, 1850: 171 [type-locality: Florida].

Othonia aculeata .— Stimpson, 1859: 49; A. Milne-Edwards 1880: 115.

Pitho aculeata — Rathbun 1897: 7; A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier 1923: 395; Rathbun 1924: 19; 1925: 357, pl. 127, 251, fig. 1; Rodríguez 1980: 274; Keith 1985: 261, fig. 6A; Ng et al. 2008: 106; Windsor & Felder 2014: 148, tab. 1, 156, 157, fig. 3M, 4N; Carmona-Suárez & Poupin 2016: 376, fig. 8F; Poupin 2018: 197.

Distribution. Western Atlantic: USA (Florida), Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Los Frailes, Los Roques, Tortuga, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, and Venezuela ( Rathbun 1925; Carmona-Suárez & Poupin 2016; Poupin 2018; present study).

Material examined. Barbados, Old Chefette, St. James , subtidal, 13°10’45.13”N, 59°38’25.62”W, 1 Ô CW: 9.4 mm ( BLSZ 186 ) . Batts Rock , St. Michael, subtidal, 13°08’04.81”N, 59°38’12.30”W, 1 Ô CW: 7.0 mm ( MZUSP 40908 ) . Reeds Bay, St. James , subtidal, 13°13’09.10”N, 59°38’32.44”W, 1 Ô CW: 9.7 mm ( BLSZ 049 ) .

Remarks. This is the first record of Pitho aculeata for Barbados. Caught in crab traps (~ 4m deep) placed on sandy bottoms on the west coast of Barbados. Pitho aculeata can be identified by frontal teeth obtuse with rounded tips. Palm of cheliped swollen in adult males; tooth near the base of the dactylus. Merus and ischium of third maxilliped with granules (modified from Rathbun 1925).

Figures

FIGURE 12. Superfamily Majoidea Samouelle, 1819, Pitho aculeata (Gibbes, 1850), male, cw 9.7 mm (BLSZ 049): A, dorsal view; B, dorsal view of frontal margin; C, ventral view of frontal margin; D, G1 in abdominal cavity; E, left third maxilliped. Scale bars: A = 5 mm; B–E = 2 mm.