Pseudothelphusa puntarenas, Hobbs, 1991

Villalobos, José Luis & Alvarez, Fernando, 2010, Phylogenetic analysis of the Mexican freshwater crabs of the tribe Pseudothelphusini (Decapoda: Brachyura: Pseudothelphusidae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160 (3), pp. 457-481 : 472

PSEUDOTHELPHUSA PUNTARENAS

Pseudothelphusa puntarenas was excluded from the pseudothelphusines by the presence of autapomorphies such as the cephalic position of the opening of the spermatic channel in the apical cavity (character 41), the fusion of the caudal surface and marginal plate producing a very characteristic caudo-marginal projection, different to that of pseudothelphusines (character 45), the apical projection of the marginal plate (character 46), and the shape and direction of the lobes of the caudo-marginal projection (characters 47, 54). Nevertheless, the absence in P. puntarenas and in the Pseudothelphusini of apical elements on the lateral surface of the first male gonopod (characters 73–76), and the presence of a caudo-marginal projection formed by the fusion of the marginal plate with the caudal surface (character 48), could be an indication of a common ancestry (node 5).

Hobbs (1991) overlooked the importance of several characters in his description of P. puntarenas , namely the cephalic position of the spermatic channel opening in the apex of the gonopod, and the lack of torsion of the gonopod, clearly seen in the slightly sinuous and almost straight marginal suture of the gonopod. These two characters, clearly illustrated by Hobbs (1991), indicate that the species belongs to the Hypolobocerini in the genus Achlidon .