Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification -  photo : Benjami Reviriego

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace disc-like, front tridentate, deeply cut by antennular furrows, margins of median tooth armed with two spines, antero-lateral margins with four acute teeth. All walking legs with a row of spines on anterior margin of merus. Chelipeds with spinose merus and carpus, palm with small pilose area proximally on inner surface and pilose groove proximally on upper surface. color : carapace brownish, golden yellow rings on joints of walking legs. common size : CL 3 cm. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Front deeply cut by antennular clefts. Merus of walking legs anteriorly spinose. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Algivorous. Off West Africa ovigerous females have been collected in February-April, August. habitat : subtidal, between rocks.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Linosa Isl., Italy, 2000 [1999]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : California to Chile, Florida to Brazil, Madeira to Gulf of Guinea. Mediterranean : recorded first from Italy, Linosa Isl. (Relini et al., 2000 [1999]). Simultaneous subsequent records from the Balearic Isl. (Garcia and Reviriego, 2000; Müller, 2001); Italy, south coast of Sardinia (M. Abbondanza, pers. comm., 2002), off the Ionian coast of Calabria (Rocella Ionica harbour) (C. Froglia, pers. obs, 2003), southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea (Gattelli, pers. comm., 2002), well known all along the coasts of Sicily, Pantelleria Isl. (Passamonti, pers. comm., 2000) and Malta (Demicoli, pers. comm., 2002). The species is spreading northward along the Eastern Tyrrhenian coast; was collected in the Gulf of Naples and in the Island of Ponza in 2003 (Russo and Villani, 2005) and in the Island Giglio in August 2004 (Bulgheri, pers. comm., specimen deposited in C. Froglia collection, Ancona). Several specimens were collected from an established population in Xerocampos, Crete, Greece in August 2005, and a single specimen was reported from Antikythira Isl., Greece in September 2005 (Cannicci et al., 2006). It was sighted off Uc Adalar, Tekirova-Antalya, Turkey, in 2005; and in July 2006 specimens were sighted and collected off Kas Peninsula, Turkey (Yokes and Galil, 2006). Libya, Al Haniya (Elkrwe et al., 2008). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Locally common. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Possibly shipping-borne. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Cannicci S., L. Garcia and B.S. Galil, 2006. Racing across the Mediterranean – first record of Percnon gibbesi (Crustacea: Decapoda: Grapsidae) in Greece. JMBA2 (e-journal). Garcia L. and B. Reviriego, 2000. Presència del cranc subtropical Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Grapsidae) a les Illes Balears. Primera cita a la Mediterrània occidental. Bolleti de la Societat d'Història natural de les Balears, 43: 81-89. Manning R.B. and L.B. Holthuis, 1981. West African Brachyuran Crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 306: 1-379. Relini M., L. Orsi, V. Puccio and E. Azzurro, 2000. The exotic crab Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) (Decapoda, Grapsidae) in the Central Mediterranean. Scientia Marina, 64(3): 337-340.   Russo G.F. and G. Villani, 2005. Spreading of the allochthonous species Percnon gibbesi in the Central Tyrrhenian Sea. Biologia Marina Mediterranea, 12(1): 329-330. Williams A., 1984. Shrimps, lobsters, and crabs of the Atlantic coast of the Eastern United States, Maine to Florida. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 550 pp. Yokes B. and B.S. Galil, 2006. Touchdown - first record of Percnon gibbesi (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Grapsidae) from the Levantine coast Aquatic Invasions, 1(3): 130-132. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: 2009 ©ciesm 2002