Pseudopaguristes monoporus (Morgan, 1987) n. comb.

Paguristes hians. — Grant & McCulloch, 1906: 33 (in part); McCulloch, 1913: 346. Not Paguristes hians Henderson, 1888.

Paguristes monoporus Morgan, 1987: 379, figs. 1–3; Haig & Ball, 1988, 173; Morgan, 1990: 23; Jones & Morgan, 1994: 122, 2 unnumbered figs.; Jones & Morgan, 2002, 122, 1 unnumbered fig.; Rahayu & Komai, 2000: 30; Davie, 2002: 55; McLaughlin, 2002a: 391.

Material examined. 2 females 1.5, 3.5 mm, 1 ovig. female 1.5 mm, Kolorai Island, north Maluku, intertidal, 16 Oct 1993 (MZB); 4 males 1.8–2.8 mm, 1 female 1.8 mm, Babar Island, southeast Maluku, intertidal, 11 Oct 1996; 5 males 1.8–2. 2 mm, 1 female 1.8 mm, 2 ovig. females 1.8, 2.5 mm, Morela, Ambon Island, Maluku, intertidal, 20 Feb 1998, (RCO).

Diagnosis. Biserial phyllobranchiae. Shield longer than broad, covered by plumose setae, denser on lateral borders; rostrum broadly triangular, same length or longer than lateral projections. Ocular peduncles slightly shorter than length of shield, longer than antennular and antennal peduncles; swollen proximally, corneas only slightly inflated. Ocular acicles slender distally, simple, heavily setose, separated basally. Antennal flagella shorter than shield, scarcely setose. Chelipeds subequal, densely setose, concealing surface tubercles; hiatus between dactyl and fixed finger. Second and third pereopods longer than chelipeds by entire length of dactyls; dactyls same length as propodi. Dense plumose setae on dorsal and ventral margin of pereopods. Male first and second pleopods and gonopore of male on right side only. Gonopore on coxa of third left pereopod in female; brood pouch absent. Telson asymmetrical, left larger than right, with spines on terminal margins.

Color in life. “ Carapace mottled white and salmon or brown. Ocular peduncles longitudinally striped purple and white or purple and orange, stripes continuing onto cornea. Antennular peduncles with basal segment brown or purple, terminal segment blue or green; flagellum orange. Antennal flagella alternately banded brown and transparent. Chelipeds with merus mottled dark brownish purple through white; carpus and chela fairly uniform orange tan on white. Pereopods 2 and 3 with orange tan or brown longitudinal stripes on white background; merus and carpus sometimes mottled brown and white. Setation white” (Haig & Ball, 1988).

Type locality. Port Essington, Australia.

Habitat. This species is known from shallow waters on soft sandy bottoms, silt, rubbles, rocky shore or associated with coral (Morgan 1987, Haig & Ball 1988, Rahayu & Komai 2000, McLaughlin 2002a). The material for this study was collected in intertidal areas on mud and sand substrates.

Distribution. Thailand (Phuket), Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia (Maluku) and Australia.

Remarks. When describing Paguristes monoporus, Morgan (1987) indicated that the species might warrant separation from Paguristes sensu stricto by the absence of one male gonopore. The absence of the gonopore is a variable character in P. monoporus (the male gonopore was observed on the right side only in some specimens of this study), but its removal from Paguristes is justified on other grounds. Only eight pairs biserial gills are present, the unpaired first and second male pleopods are located on the right side, and the left male pleopods in P. monoporus are unequally biramous. Therefore, P. monoporus is transferred to Pseudopaguristes.

Whilst other species of the genus Pseudopaguristes have bright colors and sparse setae, the only remarkable color of P. monoporus is in the red stripes on the ocular peduncles and the bright blue antennular peduncles. Setae on the chelipeds and ambulatory legs are very dense and very often covered with mud owing to the intertidal sandy mud habitat (1–3 m).