Relevant Synonyms Heteropanope vauquelini Calman, 1927 Misidentification -  drawing : Tuvia Kurz

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace oval, convex, smooth, mostly glabrous, hairs only on transverse granulate lines marking carapace regions. Front wide, with two broad median lobes separated from supra-orbital margin. Antero-lateral margins with four teeth. Chelipeds markedly unequal, dorsal margin of merus with acute teeth distally, surface of larger chela smooth, but for granules on upper margin. Walking legs laterally compressed, sparsely setose. color : unrecorded. common size : CL 1 cm. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Carapace nearly smooth with few transverse granulose, setose lines; four teeth on antero-lateral margin; male abdomen with segments 3-5 articulate. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Ovigerous females October-December, egg diameter 0.35 mm. habitat : 0-3 m, sandy mud, mixed with gravel and stones, or among Halophila, Sargassum, and rich vegetation.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Egypt, 1927 [1924]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Mediterranean : recorded first from Egypt as Heteropanope vauquelini (Calman, 1927 [1924]). Successively recorded from Israel (Holthuis, 1956) and southern Turkey (Kocatas, 1981a). Found in the south of Lake Tunis (Ben Souissi et al., 2004a; Ben Souissi et al., 2004b). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Rare. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal (Krukenberg, 1888). IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Ben Souissi J., Rezig M. and Zaouali J., 2004a. Appearance of Invasive Species in Southern Lake of Tunis. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on the Mediterranean Coastal Environment, MEDCOAST 03, E. Ozhan (ed.) 7-11 October 2003, Ravenna, Italy: 911-922. Bouvier E. L., 1940. Décapodes marcheurs. Faune de France, 37: 1-403. 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. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: February 2005 ©ciesm 2002