Porcellana sayana (Leach, 1820)

Ferreira, Luciane Augusto De Azevedo & Melo, Gustavo Augusto Schmidt De, 2016, Porcelain crabs from Brazil (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Porcellanidae), Zootaxa 4092 (2), pp. 175-194 : 191

Porcellana sayana (Leach, 1820)

( Fig. 3 C)

Pisidia sayana Leach, 1820: 54 (type-localities: Georgia and Florida, USA). Porcellana sayana —White, 1847: 64.

Porcellana frontalis Heller, 1862: 523 .

Porcellana stimpsoni A. Milne-Edwards, 1880: 35 .

Porcellana robertsoni Henderson, 1888: 111 , pl. 11, fig. 6.

Material examined. USA: Florida—Saint George Island, 1 female (MZUSP-9472). Brazil: Ceará–Pecém, Enseada do Pecém (MNRJ-4081). Alagoas—Maceió, 1 female (MZUSP-6757). Bahia—Archipelago Abrolhos, Ilha de Santa Bárbara, 4 males, 3 females, 3 ovigerous females (MZUSP-6996). Espírito Santo—Santa Cruz, 1 male (MZUSP-10706). Rio de Janeiro—Cabo Frio, 5 males, 6 females, 2 ovigerous females (MNRJ-4080). São Paulo—Guarujá, Perequê, 8–10 m, 2 males, 6 females (MZUSP-13088). Paraná—Paranaguá, 1 ovigerous female (MZUSP-19558). Santa Catarina—Proj. “Calypso”, st. 1771, 26 m, 1 male (MZUSP-9466); Florianópolis, Praia do Pântano do Sul, 2 males, 2 ovigerous females (MZUSP-13727). Rio Grande do Sul—Proj. GEDIP, st. 410, 34 °3’S, 52°7’W, 60 m, 1 ovigerous female (MZUSP-7267).

Recognition characters. Carapace sligtly longer than broad, grained, with lateral rugae, especially on posterobranchial region. Front distinctly trilobate, median lobe broader than lateral lobes. Outer orbital angle produced into broad tooth. Chelipeds subequal, robust, compressed, with few ridges; carpus with proximal lobe on flexor margin, distal spine on extensor margin; propodus broad, fringed with long setae on extensor margin. Walking legs striated, pubescent; propodus with 3 spines on flexor margin, dactylus with 3 or 4 spines on flexor margin. Gonopods present in males. Telson composed of 7 plates.

Habitat. Crevices in oysters’ clusters and commensal with hermit crabs and gastropods, or free living, on sandy, muddy and shell bottoms (Veloso 1999) down to depths of 100 m.

Geographic distribution. Western Atlantic—USA, North and South Carolina, Georgia, eastern and western Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas; Mexico, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo; Belize, Twin Cays; Panama, Caledonia Bay; Bahamas; Cuba; Jamaica; Puerto Rico; Virgin Islands; Antigua; Barbados; Colombia, Gulf of Morrosquillo, La Guajira, Cabo De La Vela and Providence, Rosario and Santa Marta Islands; Venezuela, Blanquilla, Los Roques, Margarita, Cubagua and Coche Islands; Guyana; Suriname; French Guyana; Brazil (from Amapá to Rio Grande do Sul); and Uruguay.

Variation. Haig (1966) and Gore (1974) noted that Porcellana sayana has considerable morphological variations. This may be noticed, mainly in the spine-like tooth and size of the proximal lobe on the flexor margin of the carpal chelipeds, presence or absence of the carapace epibranchial spinules, and curvature degree of the extensor margin of the chelipeds propodus.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Preserved specimens, dorsal view. A, Polyonyx gibbesi Haig, 1956, male (MZUSP- 7146); B, Pisidia brasiliensis Haig in Rodrigues da Costa, 1968, male (MZUSP- 11300); C, Porcellana sayana (Leach, 1820), male (MZUSP- 13727); D, Porcellana sigsbeiana A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, male (USNM- 35401). Scales: A, C – D (5 mm); B (1 mm).