Pyromaia tuberculata tuberculata (Lockington, 1877)

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 216

Pyromaia tuberculata tuberculata (Lockington, 1877)

( Fig. 50C, D)

Inachus tuberculatus Lockington, 1877: 30 .

Dasygius tuberculatus . — Holmes 1900: 27. — Rathbun 1904: 172, pl. 10, figs. 3, 3a, text fig. 92. — Weymouth 1910: 27, pl. 3, fig. 8.

Inachoides tuberculatus . — Schmitt 1921: 199, text figs. 123a. — Johnson & Snook 1927: 365, fig. 317.

Pyromaia tuberculata . — Rathbun 1925: 133, pl. 40, fig. 3; pl. 218, figs. 1–4. — Garth 1958: 85, pl. E, fig. 7, pl. 6, figs. 1, 2. — Ricketts et al. 1985: 334.— Jensen 1995: 25, fig. 27. — Hendrickx 1999: 75, fig. 42 (extensive synonymy). — Lemaitre et al. 2001: 771. — Kuris et al. 2007: 641.

Pyromaia tuberculata tuberculata . — Garth & Abbott 1980: 597, fig. 25.1.

Diagnosis. Rostrum acute, apices of postorbital spines pointing anteriorly, upper margin of orbit prominent but without supraocular spine. Basal antennal article with outer margin prolonged into slightly incurved spine. Carapace broadly triangular, pear-shaped, convex; surface granulate, tuberculate, with fine pubescence, especially in small individuals. Male chelipeds short, stout, granulate; chela inflated, fingers nearly as long as palm, gaping at base; female chelipeds more slender, margins of hand parallel, fingers slightly gaping. Pereopods 2–5 slender, similar, diminishing in length from anterior to posterior, dactyls moderately curved, almost smooth. Male carapace length 15.7 mm, carapace width 12.3 mm, female not reported.

Color in life. Dull green-brown, ventral surface dirty white. The color notes are from a crab from Princeton Harbor, San Mateo County, California .

Habitat and depth. Pilings, sandy bottoms, sand, shell, among seaweeds, extreme low intertidal zone to 415 m.

Range. Tomales Bay, California to Cape Corrientes, western Colombia. Introduced into Japan, New Zealand, and Australia ( Lemaitre et al. 2001). Type locality mouth of San Diego Bay , California .

Remarks. Pyromaia tuberculata may be found almost devoid of a covering or may be densely covered by small bits of algae. The crab can move with great agility on sand. Small ones may associate with the sea star Pisaster brevispinus (Stimpson, 1857) . Garth (1958) recognized two subspecies, P. tuberculata mexicana and P. tuberculata tuberculata . The typical subspecies is the one present in the area of coverage. Hendrickx (1990: 79) considered that this division was unjustified.