Published March 31, 2026
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TABLE 2 in Formal establishment of Gecarcinoidea H. Milne Edwards, 1837 n. stat. (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura), with recognition of two families, Cardisomatidae n. fam. and Gecarcinidae restrict., and new insights on Epigrapsidae Watabe, 2007
Authors/Creators
- 1. Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, case postale 53, 57 rue Cuvier, F- 75231 Paris cedex 05 (France)
- 2. Direction générale déléguée aux Collections, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, case postale 53, 57 rue Cuvier, F- 75231 Paris cedex 05 (France)
Description
TABLE 2. — Morphological differences between Epigrapsus Heller, 1862 (type species: E. politus) and Grapsodes Heller, 1865 (type species: G. notatus Heller, 1865). Many characters vary considerably with age and size, see Ng et al. 1998; Naruse et al. 2018.
| Morphological characters | Epigrapsus Heller, 1862 | Grapsodes Heller, 1865 |
|---|---|---|
| (monospecific: E. politus Heller, 1862) | (monospecific: G. notatus Heller, 1865) | |
| Size | small | large |
| Carapace | transversely ovate | squarish to distinctly broader than long, transversely ovate (larger specimens) |
| Dorsal surface of carapace | gently convex and swollen, with shallow grooves | gently to strongly convex, with rather distinct grooves on large specimens |
| Anterolateral margin | arcuate; one very low epibranchial tooth separated from external orbital tooth by very small notch (often undiscernible or, when absent, margin appearing entire) | gently convex to strongly arcuate (larger specimens); with three teeth: one external orbital tooth and two epibranchial teeth, variously developed and arranged in variable manner |
| Posterolateral margins | distinctly converging towards posterior carapace margin | subparallel to more or less converging towards posterior carapace margin (larger specimens) |
| Antennule | obliquely folded; basal article well developed and exposed; article 2 obliquely folded, entirely visible | horizontally folded; basal article squarish, exposed; article 2 small, only partially visible |
| Antenna | basal article (2+ 3) J-shaped, bearing article 4 on short inner side; article 5 well visible; short flagellum bent; no orbital hiatus | basal article (2+ 3) squarish; article 4 almost not visible; flagellum bent down in orbital hiatus |
| Front | not much deflexed, thick, almost entire | deflexed, with inner and outer subfrontal lobes developed |
| Orbit | delimitated, sheltering most part of podophtalmite | only basally delimitated, sheltering proximal part of podophtalmite; a pointed tooth at inner angle |
| Suborbital ridge | thick, tuberculate, possibly acting as pars stridens (inner margin of P1 merus with ridge, possibly acting as plectrum) | longer, thinner, smooth |
| Proepistome | wide, rectangular, with median process | small, dome-shaped; encircled by developed inner frontal lobes |
| Buccal frame | elongate-rectangular, delineated laterally | shorter, quadrate, subcircular to rhomboid, not delineated laterally |
| Epistome: anterior margin | straight, thick, tuberculate | as two concave thin edges joining medially |
| Mxp3 | rectangular, distinctly longer than broad, with merus distinctly longer than ischium | shorter, squarish, as broad as long, with merus barely longer than ischium |
| Ischium | with slight longitudinal sulcus, bordered by setose ridge | with slight short sulcus; no setose ridge |
| Merus | with very deep oblique depression all along, bordered by setose ridge | with slight depression; no setose ridge |
| Palp | inserted near latero-external angle of merus; palp short, with three mobile articles externally visible, first article encroaching on margin of epistome | inserted near middle of anterior margin of merus; palp short, with three mobile articles externally, all included in buccal cavity |
| Mxp3 exopod | exposed, slender, with flagellum | exposed, slender, with vestigial flagellum |
| Pterygostomial area | not setose | very setose |
| Subhepatic area | sligthly setose | not setose |
| Sterno-pleonal cavity | shallow, its extremity distant from suture 2/3 | very deep; its extremity not so distant from suture 2/3 |
| Male pleon | relatively short; somite 6 wide, with margins straight proximally, convex distally | longer; somite 6 long, narrowing distally, trapezoidal, with straight margins |
| Telson | short, bluntly rounded | long, acutely triangular |
| Female pleon | not described | wide, leaving laterally and especially anteriorly a sternal portion exposed, in addition to episternites; telson in shape of a large triangle |
| Thoracic sternum | sternite 1 as a spine in continuity with sternite 2; sternite 2 as a large dome-shaped plate, with convex margins; sternites 3 and 4 fused, with slightly sinuous lateral margins | sternite 1 as a spine in lower level than sternite 2; sternite 2 narrower, with straight margins; sternites 3 and 4 fused, with slightly concave lateral margins |
| Pleonal locking structure in males | a small button in anterior third of sternite 5; apparatus not functional | a largely developed and salient rugose prominence, rather close to suture 4/5. Apparatus seemingly functional: pleonal socket with calcified border |
| Male gonopore | sternal, distant from P5 | sternal, distant from P5 |
| Penis | emerging distinctly far from suture 7/8, on middle of sternite 8, crossed by sulcus joining P5 coxo-sternal condyle | emerging distinctly far from suture 7/8, on very small sternite 8 |
| G1 | relatively short, stout | relatively elongated, slender |
| Setal pouch | short setae on P2 and P3 and on P3 and P4 coxae, forming two small setal pouches between P2/P3 and P3/P4 | soft and long setae on P3 and P4 coxae forming a large setal pouch between P3/P4 |
Notes
Published as part of Paula, Danièle Guinot & Moreno, Paula A. Rodríguez, 2026, Formal establishment of Gecarcinoidea H. Milne Edwards, 1837 n. stat. (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura), with recognition of two families, Cardisomatidae n. fam. and Gecarcinidae restrict., and new insights on Epigrapsidae Watabe, 2007, pp. 257 in Zoosystema 48 (8) on page 257, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2026v48a8, http://zenodo.org/record/19501195
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Additional details
Identifiers
References
- HELLER C. 1862. - Neue Crustaceen gesammelt wahrend der Weltumsegelung der k. k. Fregatte Novara, Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Koniglichen zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 12: 519-528.
- HELLER C. 1865. - Crustacean, in Reise der osterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des commodores B. von Wullerstorf-Urbair, Zoologischer Theil, Zweiter Band, 3: 1-280.
- NG P. K. L., LIU H. - C. & WANG C. - H. 1998. - A newly recorded land crab, Epigrapsus notatus (Heller, 1865) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Gecarcinidae) from Taiwan. Journal of Taiwan Museum 51 (2): 71-82.
- NARUSE T., SHIH H. - T., FUJITA Y., MENDOZA J. C. E. & NG P. K. L. 2018. - Size-associated morphological changes in Epigrapsus notatus (Heller, 1865) and the taxonomic status of E. villosus Ng, 2003 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Gecarcinidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 66: 208-216.