Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification Myra fugax (Fabricius, 1798) (cf. Monod, 1930, et auct.)  photo : Bella Galil

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace subovate, prominently convex, finely granulate, regions ill-defined. Frontal region narrowed, upturned, bilobed. Orbits deep, eyes retractile. Hepatic region faceted, demarcated by row of granules dorsally and ventrally. Lateral margin of carapace finely beaded. Posterior margin with three long, granulate spines, median spine longest, distally upcurved. Chelipeds slender, elongate, varying in length with age and sex; merus granular; chelae cylindrical, fingers slender, long, gently curved inwards, interior margins finely denticulate. Walking legs slender, shorter than cheliped merus, dactyls lanceolate. Abdomen in male with segments 3-6 fused. color : carapace orange brown, mottled. Chelipeds orange, fingers cream. Walking legs meri distally orange. common size : CL 4 cm. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Three prominent spines on posterior margin of carapace, chelipeds as much as three times as long as carapace in adult males. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Poorly known. habitat : 8-150 m, on sandy, muddy bottoms.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Palestine, 1930 [1929]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Western Indian Ocean, Red Sea to Madagascar. Mediterranean : recorded first from Palestine (Monod, 1930 [1929]); successively recorded from southern Turkey (Monod, 1930); Egypt (Balss, 1936); Lebanon (Shiber, 1981) and Syria (Saker and Farah, 1994). One specimen was collected in the Gulf of Faliraki, northeast coast of Rhodes I., Greece, in September 2004 (Corsini Foka and Kondilatos, 2006). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Abundant along the Israeli coast. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal (Calman, 1927). IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Corsini Foka M. and G. Kondilatos, 2006. On the occurrence of two brachyurans, Myra sugranulata and Herbestia condyliata, on Rhodes Island (SE Aegean Sea). Crustaceana, 79(2): 167-174. Galil B.S., 2001. A revision of Myra Leach, 1817 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Leucosioidea), Zoologische Mededelingen, Leiden, 75(24): 406-446. Monod T., 1930. Über einige indo-pazifischer Decapoden der Meeresfauna Syriens. Zoologischer Anzeiger, Leipzig, 92(5/6): 135-141.   FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: October 2008 ©ciesm 2002