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Issue: Vol. 1627 No. 1: 31 Oct. 2007
Type: Article
Published: 2007-10-31
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1627.1.3
Page range: 41–51
Abstract views: 55
PDF downloaded: 3

A new hermit crab species of the Pagurixus anceps group (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) from southern Japan, and supplemental notes on P. patiae Komai, 2006

Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, Nishihara-cho, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, 955-2 Aoba-cho, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8682, Japan
Crustacea Decapoda Paguridae Pagurixus new species Japan distribution

Abstract

The pagurid hermit crab genus Pagurixus Melin, 1939, currently includes 24 species in the Indo-West Pacific, and recent studies have revealed the richness of this genus in southern Japan, particularly in coral reefs. In this paper, we deal with two species of the genus, P. dissimilis n. sp. described from southern Japan, and the recently described P. patiae Komai, 2006. The new species appears closest to P. nanus Komai & Takada, 2006 in both morphology and coloration in life, but is distinguished from the latter by having a clearly delimited dorsomesial margin of the dactylus of the right cheliped in males and females, a blunt but distinct median crest and a mesial row of small spines on the dorsal surface of the carpus of the male right cheliped, and paired gonopores in females. The newly obtained specimens of P. patiae from Okinawa Island enable us to describe the coloration in life of the species for the first time and to examine morphological variation. Brief notes on the distribution of the Japanese Pagurixus species are also provided.

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