Revision of the higher taxonomy of Neotropical freshwater crabs of the family Pseudothelphusidae, based on multigene and morphological analyses

Abstract

A new classification for the freshwater crabs of the Americas, the superfamily Pseudothelphusoidea¸ is presented based on a multigene phylogeny complemented by morphological analyses. We propose that the superfamily Pseudothelphusoidea be composed of two families, the Epiloboceridae and the Pseudothelphusidae, with the subsequent reorganization of the latter into eight subfamilies, of which five (Hypolobocerinae, Kingsleyinae, Potamocarcininae, Pseudothelphusinae, Strengerianinae) represent previously recognized tribes. We erect three new subfamilies: Guinotiinae, Ptychophallinae and Raddausinae, to reflect relationships that have become clear with the new analyses. The new classification scheme has a high level of congruence with the geographical distribution of species and genera. A divergence time estimate suggests that the Pseudothelphusoidea originated in the late Cretaceous around 68 Mya. Subsequent divergence events can be correlated with emergent landmasses throughout the range of the superfamily. There is high concordance among several elements of our proposal: (1) the main morphological types of male gonopods correspond to well defined clades obtained with molecular analyses; (2) the geographic distribution of the subfamilies has a structured pattern; and (3) the estimated times of divergence of each group can be associated to the geological history of each region. The combination of these elements results in a robust new classification scheme.

Multigene phylogeny and taxonomic revision of American shrimps of the genus Cryphiops Dana, 1852 (Decapoda, Palaemonidae) implies a proposal for reversal of precedence with Macrobrachium Spence Bate, 1868

“…The molecular analysis was based on partial fragments of the 16S rDNA, COI mtDNA, 18S nDNA, and H3 nDNA genes, which have been effective in solving different levels of relationships among decapod species ( Schubart et al 2000 ; Porter et al 2005 ; Pileggi and Mantelatto 2010 ; Mantelatto et al 2011 ; Vergamini et al 2011 ; Carvalho et al 2013 , 2017 ; Rossi and Mantelatto 2013 ; Álvarez et al 2020 ; Robles et al 2020 ).…”

New species of crayfish of the genus Procambarus, and notes on Procambarus pilosimanus (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from Chiapas, Mexico

“…Other external characters (e.g., epistome, shape of chelae) are similar in the 3 species; however, the morphology of the first pleopods easily differentiate all of them. Hobbs (1973) considered P. oaxacae oaxacae and P. oaxacae reddelli to be related to P. rodriguezi from Veracruz, and now with the description of P. adani the group of 4 stygobitic species align along a northsouth axis in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a region that has been recognized as a complex mosaic where several freshwater decapod groups (e.g., crayfish, palaemonid shrimp, pseudothelphusid crabs) show a high diversity of cave adapted forms (Álvarez & Villalobos, 2016b;Álvarez et al, 2020;Hobbs, 1973).…”

Distribución espacial y conservación de cangrejos de agua dulce (Decapoda: Pseudothelphusidae) en Caldas, Colombia

“…Esto convierte al país en el segundo con mayor diversidad de cangrejos de agua dulce, después de China y el mayor en el Neotrópico (Yeo et al, 2008;Cumberlidge et al, 2009;Acevedo & Cumberlidge, 2021). La diversificación de este grupo en Colombia se considera que ocurrió principalmente mediante procesos vicariantes durante la formación de las tres cordilleras (Campos & Rodríguez, 1993;Álvarez et al, 2020), adaptándose a diferentes hábitats, como las quebradas de montaña y a otros cuerpos de agua continentales. A partir de estos eventos geomorfológicos, las zonas montañosas en los Andes han representado un refugio natural para la presencia y establecimiento de varias especies de cangrejos de agua dulce (Rodríguez, 1982;Campos, 2005;Arias-Pineda et al, 2015).…”