Macrophthalmus (Euplax) H. Milne Edwards, 1852, a Valid Subgenus of Ocypodoid Crab (Decapoda: Brachyura: Macrophthalmidae), with Description of a New Species from the Philippines

A review of the <i>Chaenostoma boscii</i> species-complex (Decapoda: Brachyura: Macrophthalmidae) from the Indo-West Pacific

“…Recently, Davie (2012) revised the Australian macrophthalmids and treated Chaenostoma as a full genus. Euplax was later synonymized under Macrophthalmus (Venitus) Barnes, 1967, by Barnes (1977, but is also now regarded as a good subgenus by Mendoza & Ng (2007), or indeed possibly a good genus (see Kitaura et al, 2010;. Nevertheless, its type species Euplax leptophthalmus H. Milne Edwards, 1852, is clearly generically unrelated to the species of Chaenostoma treated here.…”

“…Barnes (1967), as a part of his broader review studies of the genus, erected a subgenus Macrophthalmus (Mopsocarcinus) to include C. boscii and C. punctulatus. Later Chaenostoma was reinstated to replace Mopsocarcinus, because the latter is considered as a subjective junior synonym (Ng et al, 2001(Ng et al, , 2008Mendoza & Ng, 2007;Barnes, 2010). Recently, Davie (2012) revised the Australian macrophthalmids and treated Chaenostoma as a full genus.…”

A rare macrophthalmine crab, Euplax leptophthalmus H. Milne Edwards, 1852 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Macrophthalmidae) from Amami-Oshima Island, Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan

“…Barnes (1977) commented that M. gastrodes was a junior synonym of M. (Venitus) leptophthalmus with the former considered a juvenile form of the latter and noted that "chile", the type locality of M. leptophthalmus, was erroneous. Mendoza & ng (2007) agreed that the type locality of Euplax leptophthalmus was clearly erroneous and suggested that a site in the Indian ocean may be the type locality instead.…”

“…Barnes (1967 recognized six subgenera under Macrophthalmus in his revision, but inexplicably placed M. leptophthalmus in his new subgenus Venitus Barnes, 1967 (type species Gonoplax latreillei Desmarest, 1822), and chose not to recognize Euplax h. Milne edwards, 1852, even though it was an available name and had precedence (see Mendoza & ng, 2007). Barnes (1977) commented that M. gastrodes was a junior synonym of M. (Venitus) leptophthalmus with the former considered a juvenile form of the latter and noted that "chile", the type locality of M. leptophthalmus, was erroneous.…”

“…recently, Mendoza & ng (2007) revised the identity of M. leptophthalmus and resurrected the Euplax as a separate subgenus of Macrophthalmus. they also showed that the subgenus Venitus could be separated from Euplax.…”