CIESM Atlas of Exotic Crustaceans
in the Mediterranean Sea

Penaeidae (penaeid prawns)
Peneopsis serrata (Bate, 1881)
Abello and Torres (1998) first recorded this species off the Balearic Islands. Later it was collected off Southern Sardinia (M. Mura, pers. comm.). It had probably not been discovered earlier due to its deep-water habitat.

Solenoceridae (solenocerid prawns)
Hymenopenaeus debilis S.I. Smith, 1882
Cartes et al. (2000) first reported this species off Malaga (depth 670 m, Alboran Sea) and off Eivissa (depth 1140 m, Balearic Islands). Its recent report in the western Mediterranean is probably due to its deep-water habitat.

Alpheidae (snapping shrimps)
Automate branchialis Holthuis and Gottlieb, 1958
A Mediterranean species. Considered a possible Lessepsian invader when first described from Israel by Holthuis and Gottlieb, 1958. Subsequently recorded from Western and Eastern Mediterranean (Katagan and Kocatas, 2002).

Synalpheus tumidomanus Paulson, 1875
An Indo-Pacific species. Mistaken for a Lessepsian invader when recorded from Israel as S. hululensis (cf. Lewinsohn and Holthuis, 1964), but Mediterranean specimens examined belong to S. africanus Crosnier and Forest, 1965.

Palinuridae (spiny lobsters)
Panulirus regius de Brito Capello, 1864
Described from the Mediterranean coast of France (Desmarest, 1825 as Palinurus rissonii). Subsequently described from Spain (Zariquiey-Alvarez, 1968; Holthuis, 1987b). Possibly escaped from holding tanks.

Scyllaridae (squat lobsters)
Thenus orientalis (Lund, 1793)
An Indo-Pacific species. Unverified single record from Rijeka Port (Babic, 1913).

Porcellanidae (porcelain crabs)
Pethrolisthes boscii (Audouin, 1826)
An Indo-Pacific species. Single, doubtful record by Guérin-Méneville (1832) from Greece. Probably a misidentification of a Pisidia species.

Petrolisthes digitalis (Heller, 1862)
A tropical Atlantic species. A junior synonym of P. armatus (Gibbes, 1850) (Lewinsohn, 1976), a tropical Atlantic species. Also, doubtful provenance : the Novara collection has other erroneous labels.

Leucosiidae (pebble crabs)
Persephona mediterranea (Herbst, 1794)
An American Atlantic species. Williams (1984) established it as an exclusively American Atlantic species. Sakai (1999) re-examined the type specimen and confirmed Williams' conclusions. As Herbst received his material from other collectors the localities indicated by him were not always reliable.

Philyra globosa (Bosc, 1801)
An Indo-Pacidfic species. Single record from Greece (Athanassopoulos, 1917). Probably a misidentification for Ilia nucleus.

Majidae (spider crabs)
Platymaia wyvillethomsoni Miers, 1886
An Indo-Pacific species. Single record from the Adriatic Sea (Pesta, 1918). It is a deep sea species, and likely this record is erroneous.

Portunidae (swimming crabs)
Charybdis sexdentata (Herbst, 1783)
An Indo-Pacific speices. Single record from Israel (Steinitz, 1929), considered doubtful by Holthuis and Gottlieb (1958).

Portunus sanguinolentus (Herbst, 1783)
An Indo-Pacific species. Single record from Rijeka Port (Babic, 1913).

Thalamita admete (Herbst, 1803)
An Indo-Pacific species. Single record from Greece (Guérin-Méneville, 1832). A recent record (Kallopissis and Kallopissis, 1984) is a misidentification for Thalamita poissoni (Audouin, 1826).

Geryonidae (deep sea crabs)
Chaceon maritae (Manning and Holthuis, 1981)
A record from the Adriatic (Vacarella et al., 1986) is surprising, as the species occurs in the tropical eastern Atlantic deep sea. The identification of the specimen was reaffirmed by C. Froglia, but its origin might have been labelled erroneously.

Grapsidae (rock crabs)
Plagusia chabrus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Recorded from Marseilles on a vessel arriving from Pondichery (Catta, 1876) as P. tomentosa H. Milne-Edwards, 1837, a junior subjective synonym of P. chabrus. Relini-Orsi and Mori (1979) recorded Plagusia sp. from Genova, but that specimen was subsequently lost (Relini Orsi, eprs. comm.).

Ocypodidae (ocypodid crabs)
Uca coarctata (H. Milne Edwards, 1852)
The type locality, Odessa (Black Sea), is clearly erroneous, as the species id tropical. It was also recorded from the Adriatic Sea (Stossich, 1877 as Gelasimus coarctatus. It may be a single alien specimen, or an erroneous labelling.

Gonodactylidae
Gonodactylus chiragra (Fabricius, 1781)
An Indo-Pacific species. Manning (1977), Lewinsohn and Manning (1980) considered the older Mediterranean records doubtful.

Gonodactylaceaus falcatus (Forsskål, 1775)
An Indo-Pacific species. Manning (1977), Lewinsohn and Manning (1980) considered the older Mediterranean records doubtful.