Nautilocorystes ocellatus

Nautilocorystes ocellatus (Gray, 1831)

Corystes ocellata Gray, 1831:39.

Nautilocorystes ocellata.—Barnard, 1950:303, figs. 57a–c [South Africa],—Monod, 1956:155 [Great Fish Bay (= Baía dos Tigres), Angola].—Rossignol, 1962:115 [listed].—Crosnier, 1967:324 [Congo].

Nautilocorystes ocellatus.—Capart, 1951:110, fig. 38 [Walvis Bay, Southwest Africa].

SYNONYMS.—Corystes (Dicera) octodentata de Haan, 1833; Nautilocorystes ocellatus H. Milne Edwards, 1837.

DISTRIBUTION.—South Africa and South-West Africa northward to Angola and off the Congo, in depths between 18 and 82 m.

BYTHOGRAEIDAE Williams, 1980:444.

This family, comprising a single genus and species from the Galapagos Rift in the eastern Pacific, is not represented in the study area.

PORTUNIDIA Rafinesque, 1815:97 [corrected to Portunidae by Samouelle, 1819:83; name 69 on Official List].

MEGALOPIDAE Haworth, 1825:184.

CARCINIDAE MacLeay, 1838:59.

LUPINAE Dana, 1851b:129.

ARENAEINAE Dana, 1851b:129.

PLATYONYCHIDAE Dana, 1851b:130.

PODOPHTHALMIDAE Dana, 1851b:130.

Neptuniden Nauck, 1880:65.

THALAMITINAE Miers, 1886:170, 193.

CAPHYRINAE Miers, 1886:170.

POLYBIIDAE Ortmann, 1893a:66, 68.

CARUPIDAE Ortmann, 1893a:66, 68.

LISSOCARCINIDAE Ortmann, 1893a:67, 87.

LUPOCYCLOIDA Alcock, 1899a:22.

PORTUMNINAE Ortmann, 1899:1170.

GONIOCAPHYRINAE Borradaile, 1900:577.

XAIVIDAE Berg, 1900:224.

CATOPTRINAE Borradaile, 1902a: 200.

LIOCARCININAE Rathbun, 1930:18.

MACROPIPINAE Stephenson and Campbell, 1960:75, 76, 88.

EASTERN ATLANTIC GENERA.—Twelve, of which nine, Bathynectes, Callinectes, Carcinus, Cronius, Liocarcinus, Macropipus, Portunus, Thalamita, and Xaiva, are represented by tropical species. Three genera do not occur in the tropical region:

Charybdis de Haan (1833:3, 10). Type-species: Cancer sexdentatus Herbst, 1783, a subjective junior synonym of Cancer feriatus Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation by Glaessner (1929:113); gender: feminine; name 1616 on Official List.

Polybius Leach (1820, in 1815–1875, pl. 9b: figs. 1–4). Type-species: Polybius henslowii Leach, 1820, by monotypy; gender: masculine; name 184 on Official List.

Portumnus Leach (1814:391, 429–430). Type-species: Cancer latipes Pennant, 1777, by monotypy; gender: masculine; name 185 on Official List.

EASTERN ATLANTIC SPECIES.—36, of which 16 occur in tropical waters. The following species were recorded by Monod (1956):

Name in Monod

Current Name

Carcinus maenas

Carcinus maenas

Xaiva biguttata

Xaiva biguttata

Xaiva mcleayi

Xaiva mcleayi

Portunus arcuatus

Liocarcinus arcuatus

Portunus corrugatus

Liocarcinus corrugatus

Portunus tuberculatus

Macropipus rugosus*

Bathynectes superbus

Bathynectes piperitus, new species*

Thalamita africana

Thalamita poissonii

Cronius ruber

Cronius ruber*

Neptunus vocans

Portunus vocans

Neptunus validus

Portunus validus*

Neptunus inaequalis

Portunus inaequalis*

Callinectes gladiator

Callinectes pallidus*

Callinectes marginatus

Callinectes marginatus*

Callinectes latimanus

Callinectes amnicola*

The extralimital species are as follows:

Bathynectes longipes (Risso, 1816). England to Portugal, Madeira, Mediterranean; sublittoral, 20–90 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Türkay, 1976b).

Bathynectes maravigna (Prestandrea, 1839). See page 76.

Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896. A. Milne Edwards and Bouvier (1900:71, pl. 4: fig. 5) reported three specimens (2 , 1 ) of “Callinectes diacanthus, Latr., var. africanus, A. M.-Edw.” from Porto da Praia (as Praya), Cape Verde Islands. The colored figure that they published shows definitely Callinectes sapidus, having only two frontal teeth. As Monod (1956:204) pointed out, the figure is nothing but a colored copy of the figure that A. Milne Edwards (1861:425, pl. 30: fig. 1) published of “Neptunus diacanthus. Individu mâle de grandeur naturelle, rapporté des côtes de l'Amérique septentrionale. (Variété à front quadrilobé).” As to the identity of the three specimens taken by the Talisman, Monod (1956:204) stated: “J'ai vu un des d'africanus (M.P.): c'est un C. marginatus.” This identification is confirmed by Williams (1974:729), who likewise examined the male specimen in the collection of the Paris museum. The female specimen of the Talisman set now forms part of the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (no. 6530) and was likewise examined by Williams (1974:729); it also is C. marginatus. The third specimen of the lot, a male (USNM 23950), is now in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; it was examined by us, and like the two other specimens belongs to C. marginatus. A. Milne Edwards and Bouvier (1900:71) thus did not correctly report C. sapidus from West Africa.

A second dubious record of C. sapidus from West Africa is the one by Gruvel (1912, pl. 2: fig. 1), who in an account of the edible Crustacea of West Africa figured as Callinectes africanus a specimen that clearly represents C. sapidus. The explanation of Gruvel's figure does not give any information about the locality or origin of the specimen figured. As Callinectes sapidus otherwise has not been reported from West Africa, notwithstanding intensive collecting, we agree with Monod (1956:204) who thinks that “on est bien obligé de penser qu'ici encore le spécimen représenté est un sapidus (américain).”

Although so far there has not been a single reliable record of Callinectes sapidus from West Africa, and the species certainly is not native there, the possibility exists that it will be accidentally introduced in West African waters as it was in Europe, the Mediterranean, and Japan; for an enumeration of the European and eastern Mediterranean localities of the species see Holthuis (1969a:34, fig. 1) and Christiansen (1969:72, fig. 29, map 23). Since 1969, introduced specimens have been reported from the North Sea off the English coast (Dr. R. W. Ingle, in litt.), Normandy, France (Maury, 1975:25), possibly from Nice (Türkay, 1971:129), the central Adriatic Sea coast of Italy (Froglia, 1972:48), Strait of Messina (Cavaliere and Berdar, 1977), and Japan (Dr. T. Sakai, in litt.). In view of what is said in the previous paragraphs, it is unlikely that Rathbun's (1921:384) suggestion that the European species came from a West African population is correct.

Carcinus aestuarii Nardo, 1847. Mediterranean, also in Canary Islands, possibly in Atlantic adjacent to Mediterranean and possibly in portions of the Suez Canal; intertidal (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968). Until now this species was known as Carcinus mediterraneus Czerniavsky, 1884. Nardo's (1847b) account, however, based on material from the lagoon at Venice, clearly provides the oldest available name for the Mediterranean species of Carcinus.

Charybdis helleri (A. Milne Edwards, 1867). Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt and Israel (from the Red Sea); sublittoral (Holthuis and Gottlieb, 1958; Ramadan and Dowidar, 1976).

Charybdis longicollis Leene, 1938. Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt to Turkey (from the Red Sea); sublittoral (Holthuis, 1961; Lewinsohn and Holthuis, 1964; Ramadan and Dowidar, 1976).

Liocarcinus bolivari (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1948). Mediterranean, 8–60 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968).

Liocarcinus depurator (Linnaeus, 1758). Norway to Spanish Sahara, Mediterranean; in depths to 450 m, usually shallower than 100 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969).

Liocarcinus holsatus (Fabricius, 1798). Hebrides southward to Portugal, Canary Islands, possibly also Cap Blanc, Mauritania (Monod, 1956, recorded a juvenile 8 × 10 mm from there); in depths to 350 m, generally in less than 100 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969).

Liocarcinus maculatus (Risso, 1827). Mediterranean records of L. pusillus are referable to this species, according to a study by Manning and C. Froglia, Laboratorio di Tecnologia della Pesca, Ancona, to be published in the proceedings of II Colloquium Crustacea Decapoda Mediterranea held in Ancona, Italy, in May 1979.

Liocarcinus marmoreus (Leach, 1814). Southern North Sea and British Isles southward to Spain, Azores, and Madeira; in shallow water to about 85 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969; Türkay, 1976b).

Liocarcinus puber (Linnaeus, 1767). Norway to Spanish Sahara, Mediterranean; littoral to 70 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969).

Liocarcinus pusillus (Leach, 1815). Norway to Portugal, possibly on northwest African coast (see Christiansen, 1969, for comments); in depths from 6 to 200 m, usually less than 50 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968).

Liocarcinus vernalis (Risso, 1816). Mediterranean, and possibly (doubtfully) off Cabo Blanco, Spanish Sahara (Monod, 1956); shallow water (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968).

Liocarcinus zariquieyi Gordon, 1968. England to Canary Islands, Mediterranean; 5 to 30 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968).

Macropipus tuberculatus (Roux, 1830). Norway to the Azores, Morocco, Mediterranean; 20–30 to 834 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969).

Polybius henslowii Leach, 1820. North Sea and British Isles southward to Morocco, Mediterranean; pelagic (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969).

Portumnus latipes (Pennant, 1777). North Sea and British Isles to northern Morocco (there is one doubtful record from Mauritania), Mediterranean; intertidal and subtidal to a depth of 28 m (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968; Christiansen, 1969).

Portumnus pestai Forest, 1967. Mediterranean; shallow water (Forest, 1967).

Portunus pelagicus (Linnaeus, 1758). Mediterranean (from the Red Sea, Egypt to Turkey, Italy); sublittoral (Holthuis and Gottlieb, 1958; Ramadan and Dowidar, 1976).

Portunus sayi (Gibbes, 1850). Canary Islands (see P. hastatus, p. 101); Cap Spartel, Morocco and Balearic Islands, from drifting Sargassum (Bouvier, 1922; Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968). Bouvier (1940) does not refer to his earlier record of this species from the Balearic Islands, so there is some question as to its authenticity. There are no other records of this species from the Mediterranean.

Ligia Weber, 1795:92 [type-species: Cancer granarius Herbst, 1783, a subjective junior synonym of Cancer maenas Linnaeus, 1758, by monotypy; gender: feminine; name suppressed by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in Opinion 330, 1955, and placed on the Official Index as name 207].

Carcinus Leach, 1814:390 [type-species: Cancer maenas Linnaeus, 1758, by monotypy; gender: masculine; name 798 on Official List].

Megalopa Leach, 1814:431 [type-species: Cancer granarius Herbst, 1783, a subjective junior synonym of Cancer maenas Linnaeus, 1758, by present selection; gender: feminine].

Macropa Latreille, 1822:9 [type-species: Megalopa montagui Leach, 1817, an objective synonym of Cancer rhomboidalis Montagu, 1804, a subjective junior synonym of Cancer maenas Linnaeus, 1758, by monotypy; gender: feminine].

Megalops H. Milne Edwards, 1837:260 [erroneous spelling of Megalopa Leach, 1814].

Sympractor Gistel, 1848:ix [replacement name for Megalopa Leach, 1814 (as Megalopus); type-species: Cancer granarius Herbst, 1783, a subjective junior synonym of Cancer maenas Linnaeus, 1758; gender: masculine].

Carcinides Rathbun, 1897b:164 [replacement name for Carcinus Leach, 1814; type-species: Cancer maenas Linnaeus, 1758; gender: masculine; name 209 on Official Index].