Pugettia dalli Rathbun, 1894

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 209

Pugettia dalli Rathbun, 1894

( Fig. 48C)

Pugettia dalli Rathbun, 1894: 232 ; 1904: 173, pl. 2, figs. 1, 1a; 1925: 178, pl. 59, figs. 1–4, text fig. 67. — Holmes 1900: 26. — Johnson & Snook 1927: 369, fig. 322. — Garth 1958: 199, pl. L, fig. 6, pl. 21, fig. 1. — Jensen 1995: 22, fig. 18. — Hendrickx 1999: 107, fig. 62.

Diagnosis. Rostral horns slender, divergent. Carapace subtriangular, more rounded in females than males; with hooked setae, covered with small prominences. Large tubercle on cardiac region, intestinal region, each protogastric lobe; female with swollen gastric region. Lateral carapace margin with slender hepatic spine; stout, upturned branchial spine. Preorbital tooth sharply pointed. Postorbital tooth thin, obtuse, upper surface flattened into smooth oval lobe. Antennae exceeding rostrum; large lobe on outer margin of basal article. Male cheliped strong, merus with thin, irregular ridge on margins, carpus with strong ridge above, on inner margin, hand large, compressed, margins thin, fingers gaping, tooth near base of dactyl. Female cheliped similar but with slender chela, fingers in contact. Pereopods 2–5 slender, pereopods 2 as long as or longer than chelipeds, remaining legs shorter, margins fringed with coarse setae. Male carapace length 18.0 mm, width 13.8 mm; female 14.6 mm, width 10.3 mm.

Color in life. Reddish to brown, similar to algae. The color notes are from crabs from Redondo Beach, California.

Habitat and depth. Among algae, sea grasses; open coasts and harbors, intertidal zone to 118 m but usually at less than 50 m.

Range. San Miguel I., California to Thurloe Bay, Baja California. Type locality "Southern California " (possibly Catalina Harbor , Santa Catalina I. , based on records of specimens examined by Rathbun).

Remarks. Pugettia dalli is common, but small and cryptic. It can be collected in abundance among lowgrowing algae and holdfasts. These crabs decorate themselves life-long with pieces of algae, bryozoans and hydroids.