Opecarcinus hypostegus
Creators
Description
Opecarcinus hypostegus (Shaw & Hopkins, 1977)
(Fig. 44A, D)
Pseudocryptochirus hypostegus Shaw & Hopkins, 1977: 179.
Trindade and Martin Vaz specimens. None.
Vitória–Trindade Seamount Chain material. Brazil: Espírito Santo: 1 male (MZUSP 40810), REVIZEE Expedition, Vitória–Trindade Seamount Chain, Bank Jaseur, PS /V “Astro Garoupa”, stn 23C, 20°29’00’’S, 36°06’00”W, 8.xi.1997, 60 m. 1 male (MZUSP 40811), Vitória – Trindade Seamount Chain, R /V “Marion Dufresne”, TAAF MD55/ Brésil Expedition, Dogaressa Bank, stn 25 DC43, 20°51’S, 33°45’W, 17.v.1987, 63 m.
Comparative material examined. Opecarcinus hypostegus: United States: Florida: 1 ovigerous female (USNM 231681), west Laboratory Dock, 2437’N, 8257’W, 14.viii.1930, 6.1 m.
Distribution. Western Atlantic: Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Brazil (Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, and Alagoas) (Kropp & Manning 1987; Johnsson et al. 2006). Opecarcinus hypostegus is here recorded from much farther south in the Vitória–Trindade Seamount Chain (Jaseur and Dogaressa banks, from 60 m and 63 m, respectively). Central Atlantic: Ascension Island (Kropp & Manning 1987).
Ecological notes. Opecarcinus hypostegus is an obligate symbiont of scleractinean corals and is known to live in association with several agariciids, such as Agaricia spp. and Helioseris cucullata (Ellis & Solander), but can also be found on siderastreids (Siderastrea spp.) (Kropp & Manning 1987; Johnsson et al. 2006; Moorsel & Meij 2018; García-Hernández et al. 2020). Kropp and Manning (1987) tentatively assigned to O. hypostegus the specimens found on agariciid corals from northeastern Brazil, previously identified as Troglocarcinus corallicola by Coelho (1966).
Remarks. Opecarcinus can be readily distinguished from Kroppcarcinus and Troglocarcinus (character states for Kroppcarcinus and Troglocarcinus between brackets) by having the surface of the thoracic sternite of P1 tuberculate anteriorly in the females (Fig. 44A) (vs anterior margin of the P1 sternite tuberculate in Kroppcarcinus; P1 sternite non tuberculate in Troglocarcinus) (Fig. 44B, C) and by several differences in the first male gonopods as figured (Fig. 44D–F).
In O. hypostegus, the coxae of P2–P5 are provided with a well-developed anterior lobe in the female, somewhat less developed in the P2 coxa.
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Biodiversity
- Collection code
- MZUSP , USNM
- Event date
- 1930-08-14 , 1987-05-17
- Family
- Cryptochiridae
- Genus
- Opecarcinus
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Material sample ID
- MZUSP 40810, MZUSP 40811 , USNM 231681
- Order
- Decapoda
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Scientific name authorship
- Shaw & Hopkins
- Species
- hypostegus
- Taxon rank
- species
- Verbatim event date
- 1930-08-14 , 1987-05-17/1997-11-08
- Taxonomic concept label
- Opecarcinus hypostegus (Shaw, 1977) sec. In, 2022
References
- Shaw, J. K. & Hopkins, T. S. (1977) The Distribution of the Family Hapalocarcinidae (Decapoda, Brachyura) on the Florida Middle Ground with a Description of Pseudocryplochirus hypostegus New Species. Proceedings of the Third International Coral Reef Symposium, Miami, 1, pp. 177 - 183, figs. 1 - 3.
- Kropp, R. K. & Manning, R. B. (1987) The Atlantic gall crabs Family Cryptochiridae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 462, 1 - 21. https: // doi. org / 10.5479 / si. 00810282.462
- Johnsson, R., Neves, E., Franco, G. M. O. & Silveira, F. L. da (2006) The association of two gall crabs (Brachyura: Cryptochiridae) with the reef-building coral Siderastrea stellata Verrill, 1868. Hydrobiologia, 559, 379 - 384. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 10750 - 005 - 9307 - 4
- Moorsel, G. W. N. M. van & Meij, S. E. T. van der (2018) The stony coral Agaricia tenuifolia Dana, 1848 as a new gall crab host (Decapoda: Cryptochiridae). Nauplius, 26, 1 - 3. https: // doi. org / 10.1590 / 2358 - 2936 e 2018002
- Garcia-Hernandez, J. E., Gier, W. de, Moorsel, G. W. N. M. van & Hoeksema, B. W. (2020) The scleractinian Agaricia undata as a new host for the coral-gall crab Opecarcinus hypostegus at Bonaire, southern Caribbean. Symbiosis, 81, 303 - 311. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 13199 - 020 - 00706 - 8
- Coelho, P. A. (1966) Alguns decapodos novos para Pernambuco e Estados visinhos na Colecao Carcinologica do Instituto Oceanografico da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Segunda lista. Ciencia e Cultura, 18 (2), 139 - 140.