Acanthophrys A. Milne-Edwards, 1865

Ng, Peter K. L., Prema, Mani & Ravichandran, Samuthirapandian, 2024, Descriptions of new and rare crabs associated with coral rubble and sponges from Kanyakumari, southeastern Arabian Sea, southern India (Decapoda: Brachyura: Epialtidae and Pilumnidae), Zootaxa 5476 (1), pp. 325-341 : 326-327

Genus Acanthophrys A. Milne-Edwards, 1865

Type species. Acanthophrys cristimanus A. Milne-Edwards 1865 , subsequent designation by Miers, 1879; gender masculine.

Remarks. The confused taxonomy of Acanthophrys was revised by Griffin (1966a, 1970). Griffin & Tranter (1986) commented that while the members of the genus were morphologically close to Hyastenus White, 1847 ; Acanthophrys can be recognised for “species which have relatively extravagantly expanded orbits either dorsally, ventrally or both.” with the supraorbital eave strongly expanded (sometimes bilobed), with the basal antennal article relatively broad and the spine or lobe on the anterolateral angle is separated from the base of the flagellum by a clear notch (cf. Griffin & Tranter 1986: 105). They also synonymised Parazewa Balss, 1938 (type species Parazewa bocki Balss, 1938 , by original designation) with Acanthophrys s. str. Griffin & Tranter (1986) recognised only three species in the genus: A. costatus Griffin & Tranter, 1986 (from Lord Howe Island, Australia), A. cristimanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1865 (from Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia), and A. paucispina Miers, 1879 (from Fiji). Griffin & Tranter (1986) argued that Parazewa bocki Balss, 1938 (from Gilbert Islands), was almost identical with the type of A. paucispina Miers, 1879 , they examined, and believed they were conspecific. Ng et al. (2008) recognised Parazewa bocki as a valid species of Acanthophrys , but we follow Griffin & Tranter (1986) in treating them as conspecific.

All Acanthophrys species were previously reported from the western Pacific, and the present new species from southern India is the first record of the genus from the Indian Ocean.