Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification -  drawing : Tuvia Kurz

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace oval, two thirds as long as broad, convex, smooth, glabrous, regions ill defined. Front broad, bilobate, outer angle of lobe dentiform, separated from supra-orbital margin. Orbital margin finely granular, small triangular notch on orbital margin beneath outer angle. Antero-lateral margins shorter than postero-lateral, 4-dentate, posterior margin wide. Chelipeds markedly unequal, smooth, carpus with inner distal angle dentiform, fingers short, hollowed at tip. Walking legs slender, sparsely setose. color : unrecorded. common size : 8 mm CL (max.). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Carapace smooth with only four acute teeth on antero-lateral margins; male abdomen with segments 3-5 freely articulating; carpus of cheliped with inner distal angle dentiform. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Poorly known. habitat : sand, stones.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Egypt, 1927 [1924]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Indian Ocean. Mediterranean : recorded first from Egypt (Calman, 1927 [1924]). Subsequently recorded from Italy, Tyrrhenian Sea (Taramelli, 1957). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Rare. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal (Calman, 1927). IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Calman W.T., 1927. Report on the Crustacea Decapoda (Brachyura). Zoological Results of the Cambridge Expedition to the Suez Canal, 1924. XIII. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 22: 211-217. de Man J.G., 1887b. Report on the Podophthalmous Crustacea of the Mergui Archipelago, collected for the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, by Dr. John Anderson, F.R.S., Superintendent of the Museum. The journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology, 22(137): 65-128. Taramelli E., 1957. Appunti sui crostacei decapodi di Anzio. Natura, Milano, 48: 99-104. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: November 2002 ©ciesm 2002