THEFAMILYLEUCOSIIDAE(DECAPODA, BRACHYURA) AROUNDTHE CANARYISLANDS
BY
J.A.QUILES, J.I.SANTANA andJ. A.GONZÁLEZ InstitutoCanario de CienciasMarinas, Gobierno de Canarias,P .O.Box56, E-35200T elde(Las Palmas), Spain
ABSTRACT Anaccount of thespecies of the family Leucosiidae reported from the Canary Islands is given. Ebaliatuberculata and E.tumefacta arerecorded for the rsttime from the Canaries. The presence of Iliaspinosa iscon rmed for this archipelago. Whenever available, data on distribution,habitat, biometry,and breeding are presented.
RÉSUMÉ Uneliste des espè ces de la familledes Leucosiidae pré sentes aux î lesCanaries est fournie. Ebalia tuberculata et E. tumefacta sontsignalé es pour la premiè re fois des Canaries. La pré sence d’ Ilia spinosa estcon rmé e danscet archipel. Chaque fois que disponibles, des donné es surla répartition, l’habitat,la biométrie et lareproduction sont pré senté es.
INTRODUCTION Inthe northeasternAtlantic Oceanand the MediterraneanSea the brachyuran family Leucosiidaecomprises seventeenknown species (Manning& Holthuis, 1981;Garcí a Raso,1984, 1996; Dounas et al., 1993;D’ Udekemd’ Acoz, 1993, 1999; ŠtevciÏ c´ &Galil, 1994;Ingle, 1996): Ebaliaaf nis Miers, 1881, Ebalia cranchii Leach,1817, Ebaliadeshayesi Lucas,1846, Ebaliaedwardsii O. G. Cos- ta, 1838, Ebaliafragifera Miers, 1881, Ebaliagranulata (Rüppell, 1830), Ebalia nux A.Milne-Edwards,1883, Ebaliatuberculata Miers, 1881, Ebaliatuber osa (Pennant,1777), Ebaliatumefacta (Montagu,1808), Ilia nucleus (Linnaeus,1758), Ilia spinosa Miers, 1881, Ixa monodi Holthuis &Gottlieb, 1956, Leucosiasignata Paul’son, 1875, Merocryptus boletifer A.Milne-Edwards& Bouvier,1894, Mero- cryptus obsoletus A.Milne-Edwards& Bouvier,1898, and Myra fugax (J. C.Fabri- cius, 1798).Since the small crabs ofthe genus Ebalia exhibit astrongsexual di- morphismand several species are morphologicallysimilar (Dounaset al., 1993; c KoninklijkeBrill NV ,Leiden,2002 Crustaceana 74(11): 1267-1278 ° 1268 J.A.QUILES,J. I.SANTANA &J.A.GONZÁLEZ
D’Udekemd’ Acoz, 1999), many of these species are notparticularly easy to iden- tify andopinions differ as to the taxonomicvalidity ofsome ofthese (Ingle,1996). So,there is aneedfor a revision ofthe Europeanspecies ofthe genus Ebalia. Ofthe abovementioned species, onlyseven have been recorded to date forthe CanaryIslands (cf.Gonzá lez, 1995): Ebaliadeshayesi , E.edwardsii , E.fragifera , E. nux, E. tuberosa, Ilia nucleus , and I. spinosa.TheCanary Islands Decapoda catalogueby Gonzá lez (1995)reported information on the habitat andbathymetric distribution ofthese sevenspecies takenfrom several earlier authorssuch as Miers (1881),A. Milne-Edwards& Bouvier(1900), and Bouvier (1922). Since 1996the groupof carcinologists ofthe CanarianInstitute ofMarine Sci- ences (ICCM) is carryingout a major revision ofvarious families andgenera of decapodsfrom the CanaryIslands: González et al. (1996)for the Geryonidae, González et al. (2000)for the Calappidae,Gonzá lez et al. (2001)for the Pandali- dae,and Herrera et al. (in press) for Alpheus.Withinthis framework,an account ofthe Canarianleucosiids is givenin the present paperwith the additionof two Ebalia species forthe archipelago.This workalso providesdata ondistribution, habitat, biometry,andreproduction of these nineleucosiid species.
MATERIAL AND METHODS Collecting was carried outduring several cruises madeto the CanaryIslands in the period1996-1999. During these collecting surveyson boardthe R/V“Taliarte” andseveral artisanal shingboats, bottom dredges were used on the insular shelves andupper slopes at depthsranging from 1 to200 m. Furthermore,one specimen of Ilia spinosa collected byscubadiving was also considered. Thefollowing measurements ( 0:1mm) weretaken using vernier calipers: § carapacelength (CL) andcarapace width (CW) excludingthe posterolateral teeth. Sexand ovigerous condition of the females werenoted. Someof the specimens reportedhave been deposited in the collections ofthe ICCM (Telde,Gran Canaria, Canary Islands).
RESULTS Ebaliadeshayesi Lucas,1846 ( g. 1a-c) EbaliaEdwardsi ;A.Milne-Edwards& Bouvier,1900: 43-44, pl. 12 gs.5-7.
Material.— “Taliarte9805” (Gran Canaria), sta. 5, Tu a-Salinetas, 27 ±58:30N 15±22:20W and 27±58:40N 15±22:10W,depth37-38 m, whitish sand, 15/ v/1998,1 CL/CW4.8/4.3mm. “Taliarte9907” (Gran Canaria), sta. 58, Sardina del Norte, 28 ±07:00N 15±43:70W and 28±07:40N 15±43:90W,58m,shell remains, 22/ vii/1999,1 non-ovigerous CL/CW4.2/4.2mm; sta.64, Punta