Megalobrachium poeyi ( Guérin-Méneville, 1855 ), Hiller & Lessios, 2019

Ferreira, Luciane Augusto De Azevedo & Anker, Arthur, 2021, An annotated and illustrated checklist of the porcelain crabs of Panama (Decapoda: Anomura), Zootaxa 5045 (1), pp. 1-154 : 32

Megalobrachium poeyi ( Guérin-Méneville, 1855)

( Figs. 12 , 13 )

Porcellana poeyi Guérin-Méneville, 1855 : xvi, pl. 2, fig. 4.

Megalobrachium poeyi . — Benedict 1901: 136, pl. 3, fig. 8; Schmitt 1935: 183, fig. 45; Haig 1962: 188 (part.); Gore 1974: 704; Gore & Abele 1976: 17; Werding 1977: 182, figs. 1b, 5; Gore 1982: 6; Werding 1984: 5; Rodríguez et al. 2005: 550, pl. 1, fig. B; Vargas & Cortés 2006: 462; Rodríguez et al. 2006: 154; Poupin & Lemaitre 2014: 9, fig. 2B; Diez & Lira 2017: 444 ; Poupin 2018: 146; Hiller & Lessios 2019: 414, fig. 1d; Ferreira 2019: 60.

Megalobrachium granuliferum Stimpson, 1858: 228 ; Stimpson 1859: 76.

Not Megalobrachium poeyi . — Haig 1960: 214, pl. 16, fig. 4, pl. 39, fig. 1; Haig 1968: 71; Gore 1971: 404 (part., Pacific specimens) [= Megalobrachium pacificum Gore & Abele, 1974 ].

Material examined. Panama [Caribbean]: 1 female, cl 7.0, cw 7.4 ( MZUSP 33522 ), Bocas del Toro , Isla Colón, between STRI station and Playa Bluff, depth 0.3–1 m, fossilised coral platform and adjacent flat with coral rubble and rocks, under large rocks and in coral rock crevices, leg. A. Anker et al., 26.04.2015; 1 ov. female, cl 6.9, cw 7.0 ( FLMNH UF 57122 ), Bocas del Toro , Bahía de Almirante , 9°22’00.3”N, 82°17’08.0”W, depth less than 2 m, under coral rock, leg. P.P.G. Pachelle, 01.04.2019 (fcn PP 19-145) .

Previous records from Panama. Gore & Abele (1976); Rodríguez et al. (2005)

Distribution. West Atlantic: USA (Florida), Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama (Bocas del Toro, Almirante, Bahía Limón / Panama Canal área, Punta Galeta, Portobelo, San Blas Is., Bahía de Caledonia), most Greater and Lesser Antilles, Bahamas, Colombia and Venezuela ( Haig 1962; Gore & Abele 1976; Rodríguez et al. 2005; Poupin & Lemaitre 2014; Diez & Lira 2017; Ferreira 2019; present study).

Ecology. Lower intertidal and subtidal, more common in shallow protected bays, known depth range: 0–46 m; in accumulations of fragmented corals and under or within coral rubble ( Gore & Abele 1976; Gore 1982; Werding 1984).

Remarks. The carapace of the Panamanian specimens of M. poeyi varies from beige or pale brown-orange with pinkish tinge to a more intense purple-pink, with the colour of the P1 also varying from whitish with pink or greyish tinge to pale pink-orange or purplish pink colour ( Figs. 12 , 13 ). Thus, they corroborate Werding’s (1977) observations of the colouration of M. poeyi based on the Colombian material and also align well with the colour photographs of this species published by Rodríguez et al. (2005), Poupin & Lemaitre (2014) and Hiller & Lessios (2019), from Panama, Guadeloupe and Venezuela, respectively. Based on molecular data, Hiller & Lessios (2019) recovered two very recently separated clades within M. poeyi , one containing the eastern and south Caribbean specimens ( St. Martin, Colombia, Venezuela) and the other with Florida and western Caribbean ( Costa Rica) specimens. Comparing the colour photographs of specimens of M. poeyi from Panama ( Figs. 12 , 13 ; Rodríguez et al. 2005), Guadeloupe ( Poupin & Lemaitre 2014), Saint Martin (A. Anker, pers. obs.) and Venezuela (Hiller & Lessios 2019), it seems that the specimens from the western Caribbean ( Panama) are usually more intensely pink-red coloured than the paler white-orange or white-pinkish specimens from Saint Martin, Guadeloupe and Venezuela.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Megalobrachium poeyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1855): A, B, female (cl 7.0 mm, cw 7.4 mm) from Bocas del Toro, Panama (MZUSP 33522), dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views [photographs by AA].

FIGURE 13. Megalobrachium poeyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1855): A, male (cl cw indet.) from Portobelo, Panama (not deposited), dorsal view; B, male (cl cw indet.) from Bocas del Toro, Panama (not deposited), dorsal view; C, specimen of unknown sex, possibly female (cl cw indet.), from Golfo de San Blas, Guna Yala, Panama (not deposited), frontal view [photographs by AA].