Minuca burgersi

Minuca burgersi (Holthuis, 1967)

Fig. 1 A, B, C, D

Gelasimus affinis Streets, 1872: 131 [type-locality: Saint Martin].

Gelasimus vocator Kingsley, 1880: 147 [type-locality: Saint Martin].

Uca burgersi Holthuis, 1967: 51 [type-locality: Cura ҫao]. Jones 1968b: 189. Chase & Hobbs 1969: 207, figs. 70, 71 a–d. Crane 1975: 168, pl. 24 E–H, figs. 31H, 54G, 66F, 100. Jones 1980: 47. Abele & Kim 1986: 56. Melo 1996: 487. Coelho et al. 2008: 42. Felder et al. 2009: 1087, tab. 1.

Minuca burgersi — Shih et al. 2016: 154, fig. 9 H; Poupin 2018: 229; Mantelatto et al. 2020: 45, fig.14 D.

Material examined. Barbados, Long Pond, St. Andrew, coastal wetland, 13̊ 15’40.6” N–59̊ 33’22.94” W, 14 ♂, 1 ♀ (ovig) CW:11.6; 11.7; 10.6; 14.7; 12.2; 12.2; 10.3; 12.2; 13.5; 12.6; 10.1; 11.3; 10.3; 10.0; 11.2 mm (BLSZ 101). Barbados, Weston, St. James, mangrove swamp, 13̊ 12’58.3488” N–59̊ 38’28.8024” W, 3 ♂, 1 ♀ (ovig) CW: 12.5; 14.1; 12.1; 11.1 mm (BLSZ 104). Idem, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ CW: 1.0; 0.9 mm (BLSZ 103; MZUSP 40903).

Distribution. Minuca burgersi is found in the Western Atlantic: Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Bimini Island, Rum Cay, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, Tortola, Anguilla, St. Martin, St Barthélemy, Barbuda, Nevis, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Barbados, Isla de Aves, Tobago, Trinidad, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Swan Island, Colombia, and Brazil (Chace & Hobbs 1969; Bezerra 2012; Poupin 2018).

Distribution in Barbados. Green Pond, Long Pond, Weston, and Cobbles Cove [Table 1 (Site #s: 2, 3, 20, & 23)].

Habitat in Barbados. Coastal wetlands and mangrove swamps in mudflats areas [(Figs. 2A: A–B; 2B: G– H)].

Ecological notes. This species was collected in the same coastal wetland and mangrove swamp habitats as Armases ricordi and Cardisoma guanhumi. Ovigerous females were collected in September 2018 and August 2020. Crabs were seen feeding on discarded Zea mays Linnaeus, and chicken viscera. Specimens were collected by hand and with the aid of hand nets (Fig. 3D).

Remarks. Jones (1968b: 189) reported a fragmented specimen of Uca burgersi collected from Bathsheba, St. Joseph, in the vicinity of Joe’s River. Additionally, Crane (1975: 603) reported specimens of Uca (Minuca) burgersi collected from Payne’s Bay (St. James Parish), Barbados. These specimens (40 male and 9 female) were examined by Bezerra (2012) in his review of the genus Uca. The crabs were collected in February 1948 by J. Crane from Payne’s Bay, and were deposited at the USNM (catalogue # 138500). The taxonomy of the genus Uca Leach, 1814, has recently changed to Minuca. This change was based on molecular evidence that indicated that all subgenera of the genus Uca should be considered full genera (see Shih et al. 2016). Thurman et al. (2021), who collected specimens of Minuca burgersi from Barbados in 2018 (Julia Horrocks, Pers. Com.) found that the Caribbean population of Minuca burgersi shows morphological and genetic divergence from the South American population of this species.

The previous records of the species Uca (Minuca) mordax (Smith, 1870) by Rathbun (1921: 79) and Minuca rapax (Smith, 1870) by Poupin (2018: 230) warrant some caution. Poupin mentions the report by Crane (1975: 196) of Uca (Minuca) rapax rapax for Barbados. However, Crane (1975) mentions Barbados in the list of locations where materials of Uca (Minuca) rapax rapax collected during field surveys, but there is no mention of the number of specimens of Uca (Minuca) rapax rapax collected from Barbados, nor the survey location in Barbados. The only record of materials collected from Barbados was for the species Uca (Minuca) burgersi [Paynes Bay, St. James Sector, 45 males, 18 (2 ovig) females; 40 males, 9 females (see Crane 1975: 603)]. Subsequently, the record of Uca (Minuca) rapax rapax and the material of Uca (Minuca) burgersi [45 males, 18 (2 ovig) females] were not retrieved by Bezerra (2012). The three species [Uca (Minuca) mordax, Uca (Minuca) burgersi, and Uca (Minuca) rapax] are morphologically similar; therefore, it is possible to misidentify these species. Despite significant sampling effort, we were unsuccessful in locating specimens of Minuca mordax or Minuca rapax (Smith, 1870) in Barbados. Similarly, the record of Uca pugilator (Bosc, 1801) for Barbados from Jones (1968b: 188) is doubtful. Jones did not deposit the specimens of U. pugilator at the Barbados Museum or at any other institution. A fiddler crab with the name U. pugilator is pictured on the Barbados $2.50 postage stamp in 1965. However, Holthuis (1967: 19) reported that the image on the stamp did not allow confirming the identity of U. pugilator and Crane (1975) did not report U. pugilator for Barbados. It is therefore possible that this record is a misidentification.