Family PARTHENOPIDAE MacLeay, 1838

Cryptodinae: <em>Cryptopodia dorsalis</em> [from Adams & White 1848]

Cryptodinae: Cryptopodia dorsalis [from Adams & White 1848]

Daldorphiinae: <em>Daldorphia-horrida</em> [P. Davie 2002: 379]

Daldorphiinae: Daldorphia-horrida [P. Davie 2002: 379]

Parthenopinae: <em>Aulacolambrus hoplonotus</em> [from Adams & White 1848]

Parthenopinae: Aulacolambrus hoplonotus [from Adams & White 1848]

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Family PARTHENOPIDAE MacLeay, 1838

Compiler and date details

May 2012 - Peter Davie, Queensland Museum, Brisbane

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Manning, R.B. & Holthuis, L.B. 1981. West African Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology No. 306: i-xii, 1-379 figs 1-88, 2 appendices [322]
Davie, P. 2002. Crustacea: Malacostraca: Eucarida (Part 2): Decapoda—Anomura, Brachyura. In Wells, A. & Houston, W.W.K. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 19.3B. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia xiv 641 pp. [382] (Daldorfiidae treated as a subfamily of Parthenopidae)

Introduction

Parthenopids form a diverse family of small to moderate-sized benthic crabs that occur in all oceans. They have a wide range of morphologies, and typically are well camouflaged. They are common in Australia, but rarely encountered except by trawling. One of the largest species, Daldorfia horrida, can grow to over 100 mm (across the carapace), and is sometimes encountered by SCUBA divers on tropical reefs. Many species have the fingers of the claws bent downwards, spanner-like, so they are sometimes referred to as 'spanner crabs', but they should not be confused with the true Spanner Crab, Ranina ranina (Raninidae). Very little attention has been paid to the taxonomy of parthenopids in Australia. The most useful works for identifying the fauna include those of Flipse (1930), Sakai (1976), Garth & Davie (1994) and Davie & Turner (1994, 1995).

The constitution of the Parthenopidae is the subject of some debate. Sakai (1976) included three subfamilies: Parthenopinae, Aethrinae and Eumedoninae. The last of these has since been recognised to be closely allied to the Pilumnidae and has been given separate family status (Stevcic et al. 1988), or treated as a subfamily of the Pilumnidae (Ng & Clark 2000) as is followed here. As part of her review of brachyuran phylogeny and systematics, Guinot (1977a, 1977b, 1978a, 1978b) recognised four groupings within her superfamily Parthenopoidea: 1) a separate group for Daldorfia; 2) the Parthenopinae; 3) a group containing Daira and Dairoides; and 4) the Aethrinae. In 1979, Williams erected a new family, Mimilambridae, for a new genus and species from the West Indies. Ng & Rodriguez (1986) synonymised Mimilambridae with Parthenopinae, and further, gave formal family names to two of Guinot's unnamed phylogenetic groupings, namely, the Daldorfiidae and the Dairidae, as well as recognising the Aethridae as a full family. Guinot & Bouchard (1998: 657) tentatively treated the Daldorfiidae as separate from the Parthenopidae but remarked that `a review of their phylogenetic relationships and precise status' is needed. In this Catalogue, I also recognise the Dairidae as a separate family, but include the Daldorfiinae as a subfamily within the Parthenopidae pending stronger evidence that the relationship is more distant.

Guinot & Bouchard (1998: 657) also tentatively recognised a possible close relationship between the Aethridae and the Hepatidae. The Hepatinae was included in the synonymy of Parthenopidae by Manning & Holthuis (1981), but was given full family status by Bellwood (1996: 185, 186), who showed that it has close affiliations with the Calappidae. Guinot & Bouchard (1998) further stated that Aethra may prove to be most closely related to Hepatus and would thus also be removed from Parthenopidae. In a recent review of various genera in the Aethridae and Hepatidae, P.K.L. Ng, D. Guinot & P.J.F. Davie (in prep.), determined that they represent a monophyletic clade for which Aethridae is the senior available name.

Diagnosis

Carapace triangular, subpentagonal or ovate-subpentagonal, sometimes almost semicircular or semi-elliptical; regions usually demarcated with prominent grooves, dorsal surface usually uneven, tuberculate, granulate to eroded; branchial regions usually swollen and distinctly separated from swollen gastric and cardiac regions. Front relatively narrow, simple or more or less trilobed; eyes small, retracting into small, circular orbits (except Solenolambrus spp. which do not retract); orbits typically more or less closed ventrally by third antennal segment, or by second (basal) segment (Daldorfiinae). Chelipeds robust, often very long, much longer than ambulatory legs; merus and chela often prismatic in cross-section. Male abdomen with somites 3–5 always fused, immovable, although sutures may be visible. Male first gonopod stout to very stout, relatively simple, without complex folds, sometimes with strong spines; second gonopod usually short but sometimes subequal or slightly longer than first gonopod. Male genital openings coxal; female genital openings sternal.