Neosarmatium indicum A. Milne-Edwards, 1868

Fig. 3C

Sarmatium indicum, Ward 1941: 2.

Neosarmatium indicum, Schubart & Ng, 2002: 29.

Material examined. 3 males, 40.0 by 33.7 mm– 42.5 by 36.7 mm; 2 females, 42.2 by 36 mm, 39.3 by 33.0 mm (ZRC; JBN170505–09), Brgy. Bantayan, Sindangan town, Zamboanga del Norte prov., coll. J.B. Neri, 5 Sep. 2017; 1 male, 14.4 by 12.1 mm, (ZRC; NJL191622), Brgy. Doña Helen, Basilisa town, Dinagat I. prov., coll. N.J. Lagare, 1 Jun. 2019.

Remarks. In his revision of the genus Neosarmatium Serene & Soh 1970, Davie (1994) distinguished N. indicum (A. Milne-Edwards, 1868) (type locality: Sulawesi, Indonesia) primarily by the morphology of its chelae, viz. “protruding basal shelf on the fixed finger of the cheliped of the male” and “the lack of a strong tubercular ridge on the inner face of the palm of the cheliped” (Davie 1994: 45).

Aside from the type locality, this species has been recorded from Peninsular Malaysia, northern Borneo, Sumatra, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore (Davie 1994; Ng et al. 1997). In the Philippines, N. indicum has been recorded from the Davao Gulf (Ward 1941) and Cebu Island (Schubart & Ng, 2002). The present material from Sindangan and Basilisa agree well with the description and illustrations in Davie (1994: 43, figs. 1E, F, 4, 17), and were collected on the muddy banks of slow-moving brackish streams. The fresh colouration is distinctive, the carapace and legs are a dark purplish-brown and the chelae are bright red (Fig. 3C).