A new genus and new species of leucosiid crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from coral reefs in the Indo-West Pacific

Abstract

A new genus and new species of leucosiid crab, Coralliocryptus caementa n. sp., is described from Indo-West Pacific coral reefs in the Ryukyu Islands (Japan), Vanuatu, and Comoros. Although the new genus exhibits superficial resemblance to the Iphiculidae in having prominent vertical spiniform teeth on the cutting edges of the chela and the female abdomen consisting of freely articulated somites, the deeply excavated female sterno-abdominal cavity, which is completely covered by the abdomen, unambiguously places this unique taxon in the Leucosiidae. The highly eroded, coral-rubble mimic carapace suggests some degree of relationship between Coralliocryptus and some other ebaliinine genera, e.g., Alox Tan & Ng, 1995, Oreophorus Rüppel, 1830, Oreotlos Ihle, 1918. Copyright © 2012 · Magnolia Press.