Neosarmatium indicum A. Milne-Edwards, 1868

Lagare, Nickel Jean S., Mapi-Ot, Emmarie F., Molina, Ziljih S., Neri, Jemateo B., Nuñeza, Olga M. & Mendoza, Jose Christopher E., 2020, On a collection of freshwater and estuarine crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura) from Mindanao Island, the Philippines, Zootaxa 4868 (3), pp. 301-330 : 309-310

Neosarmatium indicum A. Milne-Edwards, 1868

Fig. 3C

Sarmatium indicum, Ward 1941: 2 .

Neosarmatium indicum, Schubart & Ng, 2002: 29 .

Material examined. 3 males, 40.0 by 33.7 mm– 42.5 by 36.7 mm; 2 females, 42.2 by 36 mm, 39.3 by 33.0 mm ( ZRC; JBN170505–09 ), Brgy. Bantayan, Sindangan town , Zamboanga del Norte prov., coll. J.B. Neri, 5 Sep. 2017 ; 1 male, 14.4 by 12.1 mm, ( ZRC; NJL191622 ), Brgy. Doña Helen, Basilisa town , Dinagat I. prov., coll. N.J. Lagare, 1 Jun. 2019 .

Remarks. In his revision of the genus Neosarmatium Serene & Soh 1970 , Davie (1994) distinguished N. indicum (A. Milne-Edwards, 1868) (type locality: Sulawesi, Indonesia) primarily by the morphology of its chelae, viz. “protruding basal shelf on the fixed finger of the cheliped of the male” and “the lack of a strong tubercular ridge on the inner face of the palm of the cheliped” ( Davie 1994: 45).

Aside from the type locality, this species has been recorded from Peninsular Malaysia, northern Borneo, Sumatra, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore ( Davie 1994; Ng et al. 1997). In the Philippines, N. indicum has been recorded from the Davao Gulf ( Ward 1941) and Cebu Island ( Schubart & Ng, 2002). The present material from Sindangan and Basilisa agree well with the description and illustrations in Davie (1994: 43, figs. 1E, F, 4, 17), and were collected on the muddy banks of slow-moving brackish streams. The fresh colouration is distinctive, the carapace and legs are a dark purplish-brown and the chelae are bright red ( Fig. 3C ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Colour photos of recently preserved crabs (dorsal habitus). A, Neosarmatium asiaticum Ragionieri, Fratini & Schubart, 2012, male, 37.0 by 30.0 mm (ZRC), Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte; B, Neosarmatium fourmanoiri Serène, 1973, male, 40.6 by 33.8mm (ZRC), Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte; C, Neosarmatium indicum (A. Milne-Edwards, 1868), male, 14.4 by 12.1 mm (ZRC), Basilisa, Dinagat Island; D, Parasesarma anambas Yeo, Rahayu & Ng, 2004, male, 8.6 by 7.0 mm (ZRC), Lianga, Surigao del Sur; E, Leptarma jamelense (Rathbun, 1914), male, 10.6 by 9.3 mm (ZRC), Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental; F, Parasesarma kuekenthali (De Man, 1902), male, 15.4 by 13.0 mm (ZRC), Basilisa, Dinagat I. Scale bars: 10 mm.