Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification -  drawing : Tuvia Kurz

SHORT DESCRIPTION Carapace subquadrate; lateral margins slightly diverging anteriorly, dentate; anterolateral angle prominent. Rostrum small. Inner orbital margin bidentate. Median carina with three rounded teeth and two parallel rows of tubercles. Antepenultimate antennal segment pointed, with external margin deeply cut into two lobes, anterior margin with 5-7 irregular lobes; distal segment with anterior border deeply cut into five lobes. Anterior margin of thoracic sternum with two contiguous rounded lobes, last thoracic sternite bearing median tubercle. Abdominal segments 2-5 medially carinate, carinae on segments 2-4 prominent, keel-like; posterior dorsal margin of first, second segments medially excavate; fifth, sixth segments markedly denticulate, segments 1-4 with transverse submedian fissures. Second abdominal pleuron triangular. color : brownish-grey. common size : TL 5.0 cm (max.). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Differs from S. arctus and S. pygmaeus in having abdominal segments 2-4 bearing prominent median keel dorsally; from S. posteli in the thoracic sternum bilobate anterior margin, and in the obtuse tubercle on last thoracic sternite. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Poorly known. habitat : 30-60 m on sandy and muddy bottoms.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Central Adriatic Sea, 1979 [1977]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Tropical and subtropical East Atlantic. Mediterranean : a single record from Italy, central Adriatic Sea (Froglia, 1979 [1977]). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Known from a single record. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Possibly ship-borne or aquarium release. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Froglia C., 1979. Segnalazione di alcuni Crostacei Decapodi nuovi per la fauna adriatica. Quaderni del Laboratorio di Tecnologia della Pesca, Ancona, 2(4): 191-196. Forest J., 1963. Sur deux Scyllarus de l'Atlantique tropical africain: S. paradoxus Miers et S. posteli sp. nov. Remarques sur les Scyllarus de l'Atlantique tropical. Bulletin de l'Institut Oceanographique, Monaco, 60(1259): 1-20. Holthuis L.B., 1952. Crustacés, Décapodes, Macrures. Expédition océanographique belge dans les eaux côtières Africaines de l'Atlantique Sud (1948-1949). Résultats scientifiques, 3(2): 1-88.   FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

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