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Polydectus Cupulifer (Latreille, 1812) (Decapoda, Xanthidae): First Record from Taiwan

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Polydectus Cupulifer (Latreille, 1812) (Decapoda, Xanthidae): First Record from Taiwan POLYDECTUS CUPULIFER (LATREILLE, 1812) (DECAPODA, XANTHIDAE): FIRST RECORD FROM TAIWAN BY SHOU-YU CHEN1) and PAN-WEN HSUEH1,2) 1) Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kou Kuang Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan ABSTRACT The unusual xanthid reef crab, Polydectus cupulifer (Latreille, 1812), is characterized by possessing a very thick covering of setae all over its external surfaces and its habit of carrying a large sea anemone on each of its chelae. It is here recorded for the first time from Taiwan as well as from the Chinese seas in general. RÉSUMÉ Le crabe Xanthidae inhabituel, Polydectus cupulifer (Latreille, 1812), est caractérisé par la présence d’une couverture très épaisse de soies sur toutes ses surfaces externes et son habitude de porter une grande anémone de mer sur chacune de ses pinces. Il est ici signalé pour la première fois de Taiwan aussi bien que des mers de Chine en général. INTRODUCTION Among the many unsorted specimens in the National Museum of Natural Science (NMNS), Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China, we recently found a specimen of a monotypic genus, Polydectus, viz., the xanthid reef crab, Polydectus cupulifer (Latreille, 1812) (subfamily Polydectinae). This unusual species is characterized by a very dense covering of soft setae (tomentum) all over its carapace and appendages, and has been called the “teddy-bear crab” in popular literature. Only two other species of polydectine crab have previously been reported from Taiwan: Lybia caestifera (Alcock, 1898) and L. tessellata (Latreille, 1812) (cf. Ho et al., 2000; Ng et al., 2001). 2) Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected] © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 Crustaceana 80 (4): 411-415 Also available online: www.brill.nl/cr 412 SHOU-YU CHEN & PAN-WEN HSUEH TAXONOMY Family XANTHIDAE Subfamily POLYDECTINAE Dana, 1851 Genus Polydectus H. Milne Edwards, 1837 Polydectus cupulifer (Latreille, 1812) (fig. 1A-C) Polydectus cupulifer Latreille in Milbert, 1812: 273; H. Milne Edwards, 1837: 146; Richters, 1880: 149, pl. 15; Duerden, 1906: 506-510: Rathbun, 1906: 866; Balss, 1934: 513; Edmondson, 1946: 301; 1962: 216-217, 304, fig. 32c, 34a-b; Tweedie, 1950: 125; Forest & Guinot, 1962: 68; Tinker, 1965: 118; Schmitt, 1965: 150; Sakai, 1967: 78; 1976: 505-506, pl. 179 fig. 2; Guinot, 1967: 268; 1976: 65, figs. 15A-G, 17A, 18A, 19A, 20A-D, pl. 2 figs. 8-11; 1979: 239, figs. 19A, 61A-D; Guinot et al., 1995: 392-395, 402, 406, fig. 6G-H, pl. 3B; Serène, 1968: 68; 1984: 24, fig. 1, pl. 1A; Poupin, 1996: 37; Hoover, 1998: 282; Davie, 2002: 547. Polydectus villosus Dana, 1852a: 81; 1852b: 227; 1855, pl. 13 fig. 3a-e. Material examined. — One female (carapace length 9.9 mm, carapace width 10.6 mm; with ◦ ◦ chelae still gripping sea anemones) (NMNS 5213-001), Wanlitung (22 00 N 120 42 E), Pingtung County, Taiwan, low intertidal area on dead coral reef, coll. S.-M. Chao, 18 June 1997. Remarks. — In their review, Guinot et al. (1995) commented that of all brachyuran crabs, only members of two genera, Lybia and Polydectus,have evolved the unusual habit of carrying sea anemones with their chelae. Species of these two genera are easily to be distinguished, with Polydectus almost entirely covered with dense tomentum whilst Lybia is far more glabrous. The specimen examined in the present study carries a rather large sea anemone on each of its chela. Guinot et al. (1995) state that Polydectus cupulifer shows a symbiotic relationship with the large sea anemone, Bunodactis nigrescens Verrill, 1928. Polydectus cupulifer appears to be a species indigenous to coral reefs (Sakai, 1976; Serène, 1984). The biogeographic data available for this species indicate a close association with warm oceanic islands, with a range extending from Okinawa (southern Japan) to Hawaii, French Polynesia, as well as various parts of the Indo-West Pacific and Indian oceans (Sakai, 1976; Serène, 1984). The discovery of this species on the southwestern coast of Taiwan marks the first record of its distribution in Chinese waters (cf. Dai & Yang, 1991). Not much is known about the ecology of this species, except that it carries the anemones for defence, probably for the same reasons as its better-studied relatives in the genus Lybia (see Guinot et al., 1995). In Hawaii it is not rare, and it has been caught for the aquarium trade. Also, in Hawaii, the species has been caught from shallow intertidal pools under rocks in areas where there are strong currents (P. K. L. Ng, pers. comm.)..
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