Euceramus panatelus Glassell 1938

(Fig. 3)

Euceramus panatelus Glassell 1938: 423, pl. 29; Haig 1960: 188, fig. 7-1, pl. 36, fig. 1; Vargas & Cortés 2006: 467.

Material examined. Panama [Pacific]: 1 male, cl 8.4, cw 3.7, 1 ov. female, cl 9.2, cw 4.1 (NHMW 23820), Amador Causeway near Ciudad de Panamá, 1 km north of Isla Naos, Bay of Panama side, lower intertidal, mudflat exposed at low tide, in dense sticky mud under large mud-covered rock, leg. A. Anker, 29.03.2006.

Previous records from Panama. None.

Distribution. East Pacific: Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama (Amador Causeway near Ciudad de Panamá) and Ecuador (Glassell 1938; Haig 1960; Hendrickx & Harvey 1999; present study).

Ecology. Intertidal mudflats and subtidal flats with mud-sand or mud-rock-shell bottoms, presently known depth range: 0–40 m; apparently in self-made burrows dug in mud or muddy sand, sometimes under large, mudcovered rocks (Glassell 1938; Haig 1960; present study).

Remarks. Euceramus panatelus is a very unusual, burrowing porcellanid crab, almost entirely white in life, except for the pale reddish areas on the carapace and bright orange-brown eggs in females (Fig. 3). The mated pair (male and ovigerous female) from the intertidal mudflats near Ciudad de Panamá apparently represents the first record of E. panatelus from Panama. Euceramus panatelus differs from the western Atlantic E. praelongus Stimpson, 1860 by the much longer antenna, the P5 nearly as long as the carapace and the P3–P4 dactyli longer than the propodi; and from the eastern Pacific E. transversilineatus (Lockington, 1878) by the much more elongate carapace and several other features (Glassell 1938).