List of marine crabs (Decapoda: Anomura and Brachyura) of shallow littoral of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Abstract

Marine crustaceans constitute one of the best studied groups in the Cuban waters. However, the level of systematic knowledge about them differs among the ecoregions of the platform. This paper presents the systematic list of hermit, porcelain and brachyuran crabs of the coast of Santiago de Cuba, on the southeast platform of Cuba. The records of the species have been compiled between 2009 and 2013, in ten locations, which differ in the type of habitats. Additional material was examined in the collection of the Universidad de Oriente Museum Charles Ramsdem. Eighty-one species are represented (seven hermits, eight porcelains and sixty-six true crabs). Data on their local and global distribution, their habitat, and notes on their reproductive period and fishing use are also provided.

Review of grapsoid families for the establishment of a new family for Leptograpsodes Montgomery, 1931, and a new genus of Gecarcinidae H. Milne Edwards, 1837 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Grapsoidea MacLeay, 1838)

“…Today, based on morphological characters that are too often ignored and/or overlooked (see below), the reexamination of all gecarcinids reveals a deep discrepancy from some of the recently published data, especially by Türkay (1987, Ng & Guinot (2001), Ng & Davie (2012), Ng & Shih (2014, 2015, and many subsequent authors. The changes that we hereby propose are related to their generic nomenclature (see Table 1), whereas the specific identifications accompanied by a remarkable iconography constitute points of agreement, but only partially, however.…”

“…The presence of a pleonal locking mechanism in Discoplax was a character overlooked by Ng & Guinot (2001), Ng & Davie (2012), Ng & Shih (2014, 2015 and subsequent authors. A structure is tangible in D. longipes (Fig.…”

“…Although the phylogenetic tree of combined markers by Ng & Shih (2014: fig. 14, 2015) strongly supported Discoplax as monophyletic, Ng & Shih (2014, 2015 were finally compelled to recognise two groups, two major lineages: a "Discoplax hirtipes species-group" including D. hirtipes and D. celeste, to which was added D. magna; and a "Discoplax longipes species-group" including D. longipes, D. gracilipes, and D. rotunda, to which was added the pseudocryptic cavedwelling species from Guam, D. michalis. The genetic data, with C. carnifex and C. armatum as outgroup, were not considered conflicting with the used taxonomy, i.e., the inclusion of all these species in a unique genus, Discoplax.…”

“…P. K. L. Ng with Wang, Ho & Shi (Ng et al 2001) followed Türkay (1987) for the generic placement of C. hirtipes and C. rotundum in Discoplax. This approach was subsequently adopted by other authors (Ng & Guinot 2001;Ng et al 2008;Ng & Shih 2014, 2015Davie et al 2015a, and many others). Guinot D. et al In describing a new long-legged Discoplax species, D. gra cilipes, closely associated with karst environments, Ng & Guinot (2001: 312, 317) used correct arguments to distinguish Discoplax (D. longipes, D. gracilipes) as a valid genus, but erroneously concluded that the differences observed on the thoracic sternum were not sufficiently significant to "warrant the removal of D. hirtipes and D. rotunda into a separate genus from D. longipes and D. gracilipes".…”

“…The discovery about at the same time of three new remarkable gecarcinids provided the opportunity to Ng & Shih (2014, 2015 to revisit the taxonomy of Discoplax and publish two papers intended to study the molecular relationships between the members of the "D. hirtipes species-group" (Ng & Shih 2014: 109) Ng & Shih (2014, 2015 examined a considerable material of land crabs, provided an abundant illustration and rectified numerous specific misidentifications, for example showing that Türkay's (1974a: 233) records of "Cardisoma hirtipes" actually included three species: the true hirtipes from numerous localities, celeste from Christmas Island, and magna (see Ng & Shih 2014: 123). According to Ng & Shih (2015: 128) the "D. hirtipes" of Ng & Guinot (2001) likewise covered two species, their "D. magna" and what they considered to be the true hirtipes.…”