Terrathelphusa secula Ng & Tan, 2015

Ng, Peter K. L. & Ng, Paul Y. C., 2018, The freshwater crabs of Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, East Malaysia, with a description of a new species of Thelphusula Bott, 1969 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Gecarcinucidae, Potamidae, Sesarmidae), ZooKeys 760, pp. 89-112 : 89

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.760.24787

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A93EB14C-1AD1-40AD-8E82-84C040350651

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/13CD6234-3A5A-106C-AA2D-6CF5235A056D

treatment provided by

ZooKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Terrathelphusa secula Ng & Tan, 2015
status

 

Terrathelphusa secula Ng & Tan, 2015 View in CoL Figure 6E

Terrathelphusa secula Ng & Tan, 2015: 447, figs 1-3.

Material examined.

Holotype male (29.2 × 20.4 mm) (ZRC 2018.0297), found dead in pool adjacent to Borneo Rainforest Lodge, next to Danum Valley Conservation Area, Lahad Datu, Sabah, 4°58.2'N 117°41.4'E, ca. 600 m asl, East Malaysia, Borneo, coll. local ranger, 28 May 2015.

Colour.

The freshly dead type specimen was described as dark brown overall ( Ng and Tan 2015: 448).

Remarks.

The species was described from just outside the Danum Valley Conservation Area by Ng and Tan (2015) from a recently dead specimen. Terrathelphusa species are difficult to collect due to their secretive terrestrial habits and tendency to dig deep burrows, coming out only at night and during the wet season ( Grinang and Ng 2015).

Terrathelphusa was established by Ng (1989c) for a group of terrestrial species from Java and Borneo (type species Geothelphusa kuhli De Man, 1883, from Java) and now contains 11 species ( Ng et al. 2008; Ng and Tan 2015); although the genus is probably not monophyletic (unpublished data). Terrathelphusa secula is unusual among congeners in possessing a very ovate carapace and a G1 that is elongate with a long and strongly curved terminal segment ( Ng and Tan 2015).