Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

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

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.

 

General References

Bellwood, O. 1996. A phylogenetic study of the Calappidae H. Milne Edwards 1837 (Crustacea: Brachyura) with a reappraisal of the status of the family. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 118: 165-193

Davie, P.J.F. & Turner, P.A. 1994. A new record and new species of Parthenope from northern Australia (Crustacea: Brachyura: Parthenopidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 42(4): 975-981

Davie, P.J.F. & Turner, P.A. 1995. New records of Cryptopodia (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parthenopidae) from Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 38(2): 447-462

Flipse, H.J. 1930. Die Decapoda Brachyura der Siboga-Expedition. VI. Oxyrhyncha: Parthenopidae. Siboga-Expéditie Report 112(39c): 1-96, text-figs 1-44

Garth, J.S. & Davie, P.J.F. 1994. A new species of Parthenope (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parthenopidae) from deep-water off northern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 38(1): 223-227

Guinot, D. 1977. Données nouvelles sur la morphologie, la phylogenèse et la taxonomie des Crustacés Décapodes Brachyoures. Thése de Doctorat s-Sciences soutenue le 21 juin 1977 l'Universit Pierre-et-Marie-Curie. 2 vol. in fol.: i–xv xxiv, 56 feuilles n.n. 78 figs, 31 pls 1 fig. n.n. 14 tables.

Guinot, D. 1977. Propositions pour une nouvelle classification des Crustacés, Décapodes, Brachyoures. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles D 285: 1049-1052

Guinot, D. 1978. Analyse morphologénétique d'une lignée de Crabes: la lignée "parthénoxystomienne" et position systématique de genre Drachiella Guinot (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). In, Volume jubilaire du Prof. Pierre Drach. Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale 119: 7-20

Guinot, D. 1978. Principes d'une classification évolutive des Crustacés Décapodes Brachyoures. Bulletin Biologique de la France et de la Belgique ns 112: 211-292

Guinot, D. & Bouchard, J.-M. 1998. Evolution of the abdominal holding systems of brachyuran crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura). Zoosystematica Rossica 20(4): 613-694

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

Ng, P.K.L. & Clark, P.F. 2000. The eumedonid file: a case study of systematic compatibility using larval and adult characters (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Invertebrate Reproduction and Development 38(3): 225-252

Ng, P.K.L. & Rodriguez, G. 1986. New records of Mimilambrus wileyi Williams, 1973 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), with notes on the systematics of the Mimilambridae Williams, 1979, and Parthenopidae Macleay, 1838, sensu Guinot, 1978. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 99(1): 88-99

Sakai, T. 1976. Crabs of Japan and the Adjacent Seas. Tokyo : Kodansha 3 vols xxix 773 pp. [English vol.]; 1–16, 251 pls [Plates vol.]; 461 pp. [Japanese vol.].

Stevcic, Z., Castro, P. & Gore, R.H. 1988. Re-establishment of the family Eumedonidae Dana, 1853 (Crustacea: Brachyura). Journal of Natural History 22: 1301-1324

Williams, A.B. 1979. A new crab family from the shallow waters of the West Indies (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 92: 399-413

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
04-Jun-2012 04-Jun-2012 MOVED
10-May-2012 10-May-2012 MODIFIED
12-Feb-2010 (import)