Taxonomy and Biogeography of the Freshwater Crabs of Tanzania, East Africa"
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Northern Michigan University NMU Commons Journal Articles FacWorks 2006 "Taxonomy and Biogeography of the Freshwater Crabs of Tanzania, East Africa" Sadie K. Reed Neil Cumberlidge Northern Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.nmu.edu/facwork_journalarticles Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Reed, S.K., and N. Cumberlidge. 2006. Taxonomy and biogeography of the freshwater crabs of Tanzania, East Africa (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae, Platythelphusidae, Deckeniidae). Zootaxa, 1262, 1-139. This Journal Article is brought to you for free and open access by the FacWorks at NMU Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of NMU Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. ZOOTAXA 1262 Taxonomy and biogeography of the freshwater crabs of Tanzania, East Africa (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae, Platythelphusidae, Deckeniidae) SADIE K. REED & NEIL CUMBERLIDGE Magnolia Press Auckland, New Zealand SADIE K. REED & NEIL CUMBERLIDGE Taxonomy and biogeography of the freshwater crabs of Tanzania, East Africa (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae, Platythelphusidae, Deckeniidae) (Zootaxa 1262) 139 pp.; 30 cm. 17 July 2006 ISBN 1-877407-81-X (paperback) ISBN 1-877407-82-8 (Online edition) FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2006 BY Magnolia Press P.O. Box 41383 Auckland 1030 New Zealand e-mail: [email protected] http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ © 2006 Magnolia Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or disseminated, in any form, or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher, to whom all requests to reproduce copyright material should be directed in writing. This authorization does not extend to any other kind of copying, by any means, in any form, and for any purpose other than private research use. ISSN 1175-5326 (Print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (Online edition) Zootaxa 1262: 1–139 (2006) ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ ZOOTAXA 1262 Copyright © 2006 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Taxonomy and biogeography of the freshwater crabs of Tanzania, East Africa (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae, Platythelphusidae, Deckeniidae) SADIE K. REED1 & NEIL CUMBERLIDGE2 1 Department of Biology, 185 ASEC-W, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-3908, USA [email protected] 2 Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan 49855-5301, USA. [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract . 4 Introduction . 5 Materials and methods . 8 Taxonomy . 11 List of species found in Tanzania . 11 Key to families and genera of freshwater crabs of Tanzania . 12 Family Potamonautidae Bott, 1970 . 12 Genus Potamonautes MacLeay, 1838 . 12 Diagnosis . 12 Remarks . 12 Distribution . 13 Key to species of Potamonautes from Tanzania . 15 1. Potamonautes emini (Hilgendorf, 1892) . 15 2. Potamonautes gerdalensis Bott, 1955 . 18 3. Potamonautes infravallatus (Hilgendorf, 1898) . 19 4. Potamonautes johnstoni (Miers, 1885) . 21 5. Potamonautes lirrangensis (Rathbun, 1904) . 23 6. Potamonautes loveridgei (Rathbun, 1933) . 25 7. Potamonautes obesus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1868) . 27 8. Potamonautes pilosus (Hilgendorf, 1898) . 28 9. Potamonautes platycentron (Hilgendorf, 1897) . 30 10. Potamonautes platynotus (Cunnington, 1907) . 31 11. Potamonautes raybouldi Cumberlidge & Vannini, 2004 . 33 12. Potamonautes suprasulcatus (Hilgendorf, 1898) . 34 13. Potamonautes unisulcatus (Rathbun, 1933) . 37 Accepted by P. Castro: 3 Mar. 2006; published: 17 Jul. 2006 3 ZOOTAXA 14. Potamonautes xiphoidus n. sp. 38 1262 Family Deckeniidae Hilgendorf, 1869 . 40 Diagnosis . 40 Distribution . 40 Remarks . 40 Natural history . 41 Genus Deckenia Hilgendorf, 1869 . 41 Key to the species of Deckenia . 41 15. Deckenia imitatrix Hilgendorf, 1869 . 42 16. Deckenia mitis Hilgendorf, 1898 . 43 Family Platythelphusidae Colosi, 1920 . 44 Diagnosis . 45 Distribution . 45 Remarks . 45 Natural history . 45 Genus Platythelphusa A. Milne-Edwards, 1887 . 45 Key to the species of Platythelphusa . 46 17. Platythelphusa armata (A. Milne-Edwards, 1887) . 47 18. Platythelphusa conculcata Cunnington, 1907 . 48 19. Platythelphusa denticulata Capart, 1952 . 49 20. Platythelphusa echinata Capart, 1952 . 50 21. Platythelphusa immaculata Marijnissen, Schram, Cumberlidge & Michel, 2004 . 51 22. Platythelphusa maculata (Cunnington, 1899) . 52 23. Platythelphusa polita Capart, 1952 . 53 24. Platythelphusa praelongata Marijnissen, Schram, Cumberlidge & Michel, 2004 . 54 25. Platythelphusa tuberculata Capart, 1952 . 55 Discussion . 56 Freshwater crab distribution patterns. 58 Acknowledgements . 61 References . 61 Appendix . 133 ABSTRACT The taxonomy of the freshwater crabs of Tanzania, East Africa is revised based on a large collection of previously unreported material. The crabs are treated here as a distinct regional subset of the African continental fauna. We recognize 25 species belonging to three genera (Potamonautes MacLeay, 1838, Platythelphusa A. Milne-Edwards, 1872, and Deckenia Hilgendorf, 1869a) and three families (the Potamonautidae Bott, 1970, the Platythelphusidae Colosi, 1920, and the Decken- iidae Ortmann, 1897). Tanzania is home to fourteen species of Potamonautes (including one new species), 9 species of Platythelphusa and 2 species of Deckenia. These estimates can be expected to change as the taxonomy of the freshwater crabs of this region becomes more refined. Potamonautes unisulcatus (Rathbun, 1933) is removed from synonymy and is recognized as a valid species; P. platycentron (Hilgendorf, 1897), originally a subspecies of P. johnstoni (Miers, 1885), is regarded 4 © 2006 Magnolia Press REED & CUMBERLIDGE as a valid species; P. ambiguus (Rathbun, 1904) is treated here as a junior subjective synonym of P. ZOOTAXA johnstoni (Miers, 1885), and P. johnstoni stappersi (Balss, 1936) is treated as a junior subjective 1262 synonym of P. loveridgei (Rathbun, 1933). The present work adds another species of Potamo- nautes, P. xiphoidus n. sp. from Tanzania. A number of morphological characters (including the shape and size of the dorsal membrane of gonopod 1) are identified to help clarify the taxonomy of Potamonautes in Tanzania. A revised species list for Tanzania is provided, as well as updated iden- tification keys to the families, genera and species of Tanzanian freshwater crabs. The distribution of each species is refined based on new localities. Three out of 25 species (12.5%) (P. infravallatus, P. unisulcatus and P. xiphoidus) are endemic to Tanzania, but this number rises to 13 out of 25 (52%) if the Lake Tanganyika endemic species which occur in other countries that border the lake are included. Only two of the 25 Tanzanian species of freshwater crabs (P. lirrangensis and P. suprasul- catus) occur outside of the East African region in the D. R. Congo and Malawi. Key words: Crustacea, Brachyura, Potamoidea, Potamonautidae, Potamonautes, Platythel- phusidae, Platythelphusa, Deckeniidae, Deckenia, freshwater crabs, taxonomy, Tanzania, Lake Tanganyika, East Africa INTRODUCTION The freshwater crab fauna of Africa as a whole comprises over 100 species that are cur- rently assigned to 11 genera and four families (Cumberlidge 1999). The fauna of Tanzania is treated here as a distinct regional subset of the African continental fauna and recognizes 25 species in three genera and three families (Bott 1955; Williams 1968; Cumberlidge 1999). These estimates can be expected to change as exploration increases and the taxon- omy of the freshwater crabs of this region becomes more refined. Freshwater crabs are of great economic importance in Africa because these animals sometimes form a significant part of the diet of large numbers of people in rural areas, and because the crabs have been implicated in the transmission of disease-causing parasites in humans (Williams et al. 1964; Williams 1968; Voelker & Sachs 1977). Furthermore, the recent upsurge.