The nomenclature and taxonomy of Eriocheir formosa Chan, Hung & Yu, 1995 (Brachyura, Varunidae) from Taiwan: A rebuttal to Tang et al. (2003, 2004)

Abstract

Tang et al. (2003, 2004) recently proposed a "neotype" for the commercially important Taiwanese mitten crab, Eriocheir recta Stimpson, 1858, making it a senior synonym of E. formosa Chan, Hung & Yu, 1995. They also argued that the species was not a Taiwanese endemic on the basis of their discovery of a single specimen from southern China. This action is unnecessary as a neotype had already been validly designated for Eriocheir recta Stimpson, 1858, by Chan et al. (1995), which makes this name a junior synonym of E. japonica (De Haan, 1835). In addition, we provide arguments and evidence to show that their proposed synonymy of E. recta and E. formosa is unjustified; and that their specimen had probably been mislabelled. © Koninklijke Brill NV, 2005.