Abstract
The crab Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Plagusiidae) has so far only been recorded in Brazil in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Here we report its first occurrence from northeastern Brazil, from the Potiguar Basin in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.
Key words
Continental shelf; geographic distribution; Potiguar basin; Grapsoidea
The family Plagusiidae is represented by marine crabs with a subcircular to quadrate carapace, and the anterolateral margins with one to several teeth behind the exorbital angle (Melo, 1996Melo, G.A.S. 1996. Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, Editora Plêiade, 603p.; Ng et al., 2008Ng, P.K.L.; Guinot, D. and Davie, P.J.F. 2008. Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 17(1): 1-286. ). This family currently is comprised of five genera: PlagusiaLatreille, 1804Latreille, P.A. 1804. Crustacés (1). Crustacea. Classe Septième. Tableau méthodique des Crustacés. In: Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, 24: 123-127., Euchirograpsus H. Milne Edwards, 1853Milne Edwards, H. 1853. Mémoires sur la famille des Ocypodiens. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3(20): 163-228., MiersiograpsusTürkay, 1978Türkay, M. 1978. Zwei neue Grapsiden-Arten aus dem Indopazifik, (Euchirograpsus madagascariensis n. sp. und Miersiograpsus australiensis n. sp.) mit Einführung von Miersiograpsus n. gen. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Grapsidae). Senckenbergiana biologica , 59(1-2): 133-141., DavusiaGuinot, 2007Guinot, D. 2007. A new genus of the family Plagusiidae Dana, 1851, close to Plagusia Latreille, 1804 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). Zootaxa , 1498: 27-33., and GuinusiaSchubart & Cuesta, 2010Schubart, C.D. and Cuesta, J.A. 2010. Phylogenetic relationships of the Plagusiidae Dana, 1851 (Brachyura), with description of a new genus and recognition of Percnidae Stevcic, 2005, as an independent family. In: Studies on Brachyura: a Homage to Danièle Guinot. Crustaceana Monographs, 11: 279-300. Leiden, Brill., with a total of 20 species (Ng et al., 2008Ng, P.K.L.; Guinot, D. and Davie, P.J.F. 2008. Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 17(1): 1-286. ).
The genus Euchirograpsus currently comprises ten described species, largely occurring on bottoms of sand, sandy mud, mud, rock with gorgonians and sponges, from 10 to 510 m depth (Manning and Holthuis, 1981Manning, R.B. and Holthuis L.B. 1981. West African brachyuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 306: 1-379.; Melo, 2010Melo, G.A.S. 2010. The Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) collected by the GEDIP Project between Torres, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and Maldonado (Uruguay). Atlântica, 32(1): 39-57. ; Wilson and Pohle, 2016Wilson, B.M. and Pohle, G.W. 2016. Northern range expansion of the American talon crab, Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Decapoda, Grapsoidea, Plagusiidae), to the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Crustaceana, 89(2): 163-173.). Only two species have been recorded in Brazilian waters: Euchirograpsus antillensisTürkay, 1975Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132. distributed in the states of Maranhão, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul and Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880Milne-Edwards, A. 1880. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877, '78, '79, by the US coast survey steamer "Blake", Lieut. Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 8: 1-68., so far recorded only from the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Melo, 1996Melo, G.A.S. 1996. Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, Editora Plêiade, 603p.; 1998Melo, G.A.S. 1998. Malacostraca-Eucarida. Brachyura. Oxyrhyncha and Brachyrhyncha. p. 455-515. In: P.S. Young (ed), Catalogue of Crustacea of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Série Livros 6.; 2010Melo, G.A.S. 2010. The Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) collected by the GEDIP Project between Torres, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and Maldonado (Uruguay). Atlântica, 32(1): 39-57. ). In this study we report for the first time the occurrence of E. americanus from northeastern Brazil.
The Potiguar Basin is situated in the extreme northeast of Brazil, between the states of Ceará (CE) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN) (Alves-Júnior et al., 2016Alves-Júnior, F.A.; Araújo, M.S.L.C. and Souza-Filho, J.F. 2016. Distribution of two species of Nephropsis Wood-Mason, 1872 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Nephropidae) from northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa, 4114(1): 90-94. ). The samples were collected on board of the R/V "Seward Johnson" in 2011, as part of the project "Avaliação da biota bentônica e planctônica da Bacia Potiguar e Ceará (Bpot)" sponsored by "Petróleo Brasileiro S/A (Petrobrás)".
The samples were obtained by bottom trawls (otter trawl semi-balloon type with 50 mm mesh size and 18 m of mouth opening), conducted on the continental slope between 150-2068 m of depth. All material collected was preserved in 70% ethanol. In the laboratory, the specimen was sorted and identified to species level by observing the diagnostic morphological characters according to A. Milne-Edwards (1880Milne-Edwards, A. 1880. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877, '78, '79, by the US coast survey steamer "Blake", Lieut. Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 8: 1-68.), Türkay (1975Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132.) and Melo (1996Melo, G.A.S. 1996. Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, Editora Plêiade, 603p.). The specimen was measured with a digital caliper (0.01 mm) at: carapace length (CL), carapace width (CW) and abdomen width (AW). The specimen has been deposited in the Carcinological Collection of the "Museu de Oceanografia Prof. Petrônio Alves Coelho (MOUFPE)", of the "Universidade Federal de Pernambuco" in Recife, Brazil. In the geographic distribution section, the new record is listed in bold.
Systematics
Order Decapoda Latreille, 1802Latreille, P.A. 1802. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris, Dufart, 467p.
Infraorder Brachyura Latreille, 1802Latreille, P.A. 1802. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris, Dufart, 467p.
Family Plagusiidae Dana, 1851Dana, J.D. 1851. On the classification of the Crustacea Grapsoidea. American Journal of Science and Arts, 12(2): 283-290.
Genus Euchirograpsus H. Milne Edwards, 1853Milne Edwards, H. 1853. Mémoires sur la famille des Ocypodiens. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3(20): 163-228.
Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880Milne-Edwards, A. 1880. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877, '78, '79, by the US coast survey steamer "Blake", Lieut. Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 8: 1-68.
Material examined. 1 ovigerous female (CL 8.52 mm, CW 9.08 mm, AW 6.98 mm), Potiguar Basin, MT-52-2, 04°44'S 036°25'W, 23 May 2011, 180 m, 28.8°C, salinity 36.6, MOUFPE 15697.
Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, ovigerous female from northeastern Brazil (Potiguar Basin, MT-52-2; MOUFPE 15697). (A), Habitus, dorsal view; (B) carapace, dorsal view; (C) second pair of pereopods (P2), merus indicated by arrow. Scale bar = 1 cm.
Geographic distribution. Western Atlantic-Canada (Bay of Fundy), USA (towards the Carolina's in Toms/Meys Canyon and Baltimore Canyon, Massachusetts in Canyon at the edge of Georges Bank, New Jersey, Louisiana, Florida), Gulf of Mexico, Dry Tortugas, Cuba, Caribbean Sea, Antilles, West Indies, Barbados, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil (Potiguar Basin - Rio Grande do Norte and Rio Grande do Sul) (Zariquiey Alvarez, 1968Zariquiey Alvarez, R. 1968. Crustáceos decápodos ibéricos. Investigación Pesquera, Barcelona, 32: 1-510.; Türkay, 1975Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132.; Melo, 1996Melo, G.A.S. 1996. Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, Editora Plêiade, 603p.; 1998Melo, G.A.S. 1998. Malacostraca-Eucarida. Brachyura. Oxyrhyncha and Brachyrhyncha. p. 455-515. In: P.S. Young (ed), Catalogue of Crustacea of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Série Livros 6.; Wilson and Pohle, 2016Wilson, B.M. and Pohle, G.W. 2016. Northern range expansion of the American talon crab, Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Decapoda, Grapsoidea, Plagusiidae), to the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Crustaceana, 89(2): 163-173.).
Remarks. The single specimen is in agreement with the original description of A. Milne-Edwards (1880Milne-Edwards, A. 1880. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877, '78, '79, by the US coast survey steamer "Blake", Lieut. Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 8: 1-68.), as well as subsequent descriptions by A. Milne-Edwards and Bouvier (1894)Milne-Edwards, A. and Bouvier, E.L. 1894. Crustacés décapodes provenant des campagnes du yacht l'Hirondelle (1886, 1887 et 1888). Première partie: Brachyures et Anomoures. Résultats des Campagnes Scientifique Monaco, 7: 1-112., Rathbun (1918Rathbun, M.J. 1918. The grapsoid crabs of America. United States National Museum Bulletin, 97: 1-461.), Türkay (1975Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132.) and Melo (1996Melo, G.A.S. 1996. Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, Editora Plêiade, 603p.). The species was represented by only one specimen among 30 sampling stations in the Potiguar Basin.
The only two species of genus Euchirograpsus found in Brazil (E. americanus and E. antillensis) are very similar to each other; however, E. americanus has three to four subdistal teeth on the inferior margin of the merus of the second pair of pereopods, being at least one of them larger, versus all short and of the same length in E. antillensis; moreover, the lateral spines of the carapace are slightly longer in E. antillensis than in E. americanus (Türkay, 1975, fig. 16Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132.) (Fig. 1C).
Some specimens of Euchirograpsus were identified as E. americanus from Galapagos Islands and Madagascar by Crosnier and Thomassin (1975Crosnier, A. and Thomassin, B. 1975. Sur quelques Portunidae, Grapsidae et Ocypodidae (Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura) de Madagascar ou des îles avoisinantes, nouveaux, rares ou non encore signalés. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 214: 711-741.), but, after further review, the individuals were described as two new species, Euchirograpsus pacificus and Euchirograpsus madagascariensis by Türkay (1975Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132.; 1978Türkay, M. 1978. Zwei neue Grapsiden-Arten aus dem Indopazifik, (Euchirograpsus madagascariensis n. sp. und Miersiograpsus australiensis n. sp.) mit Einführung von Miersiograpsus n. gen. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Grapsidae). Senckenbergiana biologica , 59(1-2): 133-141.). Until the revision by Türkay (1975)Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132., E. americanus was also wrongly recorded in the eastern Atlantic (these specimens are juveniles of Euchirograpsus liguricus H. Milne Edwards, 1853Milne Edwards, H. 1853. Mémoires sur la famille des Ocypodiens. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3(20): 163-228.). Euchirograpsus americanus is, therefore, restricted to the western Atlantic only (Manning and Holthuis, 1981Manning, R.B. and Holthuis L.B. 1981. West African brachyuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 306: 1-379.). The species E. americanus and E. antillensis have a disjunct geographical distribution along the Brazilian coast, but these species probably have a wider distribution than is currently documented.
Acknowledgements
The first author would like to thank CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) for a postgraduate scholarship in Oceanography. The authors are also grateful to Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobrás) for making the material used in this study available. Additionally, we would like to thank Dr. Célio Magalhães for his support, to Dr. Sammy De Grave for the English review and valuable suggestions and the anonymous reviewers for their precious comments on this paper.
References
- Alves-Júnior, F.A.; Araújo, M.S.L.C. and Souza-Filho, J.F. 2016. Distribution of two species of Nephropsis Wood-Mason, 1872 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Nephropidae) from northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa, 4114(1): 90-94.
- Crosnier, A. and Thomassin, B. 1975. Sur quelques Portunidae, Grapsidae et Ocypodidae (Crustacea Decapoda Brachyura) de Madagascar ou des îles avoisinantes, nouveaux, rares ou non encore signalés. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 214: 711-741.
- Dana, J.D. 1851. On the classification of the Crustacea Grapsoidea. American Journal of Science and Arts, 12(2): 283-290.
- Guinot, D. 2007. A new genus of the family Plagusiidae Dana, 1851, close to Plagusia Latreille, 1804 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). Zootaxa , 1498: 27-33.
- Latreille, P.A. 1802. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris, Dufart, 467p.
- Latreille, P.A. 1804. Crustacés (1). Crustacea. Classe Septième. Tableau méthodique des Crustacés. In: Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, 24: 123-127.
- Manning, R.B. and Holthuis L.B. 1981. West African brachyuran crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 306: 1-379.
- Melo, G.A.S. 1996. Manual de Identificação dos Brachyura (Caranguejos e Siris) do Litoral Brasileiro. São Paulo, Editora Plêiade, 603p.
- Melo, G.A.S. 1998. Malacostraca-Eucarida. Brachyura. Oxyrhyncha and Brachyrhyncha. p. 455-515. In: P.S. Young (ed), Catalogue of Crustacea of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Série Livros 6.
- Melo, G.A.S. 2010. The Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) collected by the GEDIP Project between Torres, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and Maldonado (Uruguay). Atlântica, 32(1): 39-57.
- Milne-Edwards, A. 1880. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877, '78, '79, by the US coast survey steamer "Blake", Lieut. Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 8: 1-68.
- Milne-Edwards, A. and Bouvier, E.L. 1894. Crustacés décapodes provenant des campagnes du yacht l'Hirondelle (1886, 1887 et 1888). Première partie: Brachyures et Anomoures. Résultats des Campagnes Scientifique Monaco, 7: 1-112.
- Milne Edwards, H. 1853. Mémoires sur la famille des Ocypodiens. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3(20): 163-228.
- Ng, P.K.L.; Guinot, D. and Davie, P.J.F. 2008. Systema Brachyurorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 17(1): 1-286.
- Rathbun, M.J. 1918. The grapsoid crabs of America. United States National Museum Bulletin, 97: 1-461.
- Schubart, C.D. and Cuesta, J.A. 2010. Phylogenetic relationships of the Plagusiidae Dana, 1851 (Brachyura), with description of a new genus and recognition of Percnidae Stevcic, 2005, as an independent family. In: Studies on Brachyura: a Homage to Danièle Guinot. Crustaceana Monographs, 11: 279-300. Leiden, Brill.
- Türkay, M. 1975. Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Euchirograpsus mit Bemerkungen zu Brachygrapsus und Litocheira (Crustacea, Decapoda). Senckenbergiana biologica 56(1): 103-132.
- Türkay, M. 1978. Zwei neue Grapsiden-Arten aus dem Indopazifik, (Euchirograpsus madagascariensis n. sp. und Miersiograpsus australiensis n. sp.) mit Einführung von Miersiograpsus n. gen. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Grapsidae). Senckenbergiana biologica , 59(1-2): 133-141.
- Wilson, B.M. and Pohle, G.W. 2016. Northern range expansion of the American talon crab, Euchirograpsus americanus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 (Decapoda, Grapsoidea, Plagusiidae), to the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Crustaceana, 89(2): 163-173.
- Zariquiey Alvarez, R. 1968. Crustáceos decápodos ibéricos. Investigación Pesquera, Barcelona, 32: 1-510.
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
2016
History
-
Received
05 Sept 2016 -
Accepted
05 Nov 2016