Allodardanus bredini Haig & Provenzano, 1965

Lemaitre, Rafael & Tavares, Marcos, 2015, New taxonomic and distributional information on hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura: Paguroidea) from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic coast of South America, Zootaxa 3994 (4), pp. 451-506 : 466-467

Allodardanus bredini Haig & Provenzano, 1965

( Fig. 1 B)

Allodardanus bredini Haig & Provenzano, 1965: 203 , figs 2, 5 (type locality: R/V Freelance, sta 71–58, St. Kitts and Nevis, WSW of Charlestown, Caribbean Sea). — McLaughlin & Gore, 1985: 40.— Chace et al., 1986: 335, fig. 10.7.— McLaughlin et al., 2010: 18.

Type material. Holotype female 11.4 mm, Caribbean Sea, St. Kitts and Nevis, WSW of Charlestown, R/V Freelance, sta 71–58, Smithsonian-Bredin Caribbean Expedition, “Finlay” trap, 230 m, 16 Apr 1958 ( USNM 111172); paratype male 11.1 mm, Straits of Florida, off N side of Cay Sal Bank, Bahamas, R/V Silver Bay, sta 2445, 24°08’N, 80°08’W, 252 m, 3 Nov 1960 ( USNM 111173).

New material. Bermuda. 1.5 miles off Castle Roads, 32°19’N, 64°18’W, trap, 450 m, 16 Oct 1974, coll. A. Guest: 1 female 12.2 mm ( USNM 151534); 32°20’N, 64°45’W, [no date or depth]: 1 female 12.4 mm ( USNM 243420).

Curaçao. Curasub 12–04, 265 m, 23 May 2012: 1 male 10.3 mm, CURI 12146 ( USNM 1253275); Curasub 13–21, 171.6– 248.1 m, 17 Aug 2013: 1 female 10.1 mm ( USNM 1253325).

Diagnosis. See Haig & Provenzano (1965).

Distribution. Northwestern Atlantic: from Bermuda, Straits of Florida, and Bahamas, to Curaçao in the southern Caribbean Sea. Depth: 100 to 450 m.

Color ( Fig. 1 B). Second and third maxillipeds, shield and cephalic appendages, and calcified portions of posterior carapace and branchiostegites, bright yellow or yellow-orange; corneae yellowshish-green with some black pigmentation centrally. Cheliped with outer surfaces of meri, carpi and palm with lightly yellow-colored granules over purple to yellow-orange background, purple background strong on meri, fading distally thereafter and becoming pink to yellow-orange on palm and fingers; meri and carpi bright purple on inner surfaces. Ambulatory legs (second and third pereopods) with meri bright purple except for yellow distal portion; carpi, propodi and dactyl bright yellow, dactyl yellow-orange distally. Fourth and fifth pereopods yellow or yelloworange.

Remarks. Previous to this report, Allodardanus bredini was known only from Bermuda, Straits of Florida, Bahamas, and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Lesser Antilles ( Haig & Provenzano 1965; Chace et al. 1986). Thus, the finding of this species in Curaçao considerably extends its range to the south virtually across the entire Caribbean.

The coloration of this species was documented in the original description by Haig & Provenzano (1965), although based on preserved specimens. Subsequently, a brief description of color, along with a photograph, was reported by Chace et al. (1986: pl. 10, fig 7) based on specimens form Bermuda. The detailed coloration and photograph presented herein of A. bredini is based on live specimens captured in Curaçao ( Fig. 1 B), and is the most detailed known so far.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A, Coenobita clypeatus (Fabricius, 1787), in gastropod Melongena melongena: dry specimens [not sexed or measured], W. J. Broderip collection (NHM B 2195, NHM B 2196); B, Allodardanus bredini Haig & Provenzano, 1965, female 10.1 mm, in gastropod shell, Curaçao, Curasub 13 – 21 (USNM 1253325); C, Bathynarius anomalus (A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1893), in gastropod shell, male, 4.0 mm, Curaçao 12 – 11, CURI 12088 (USNM 1253278); D, Paguristes spinipes A. Milne-Edwards, 1880, in gastropod shell: male 4.8 mm, Curaçao, Curasub 12 – 03, CURI 12040 (USNM 1253258); E, Pylopagurus discoidalis (A. Milne-Edwards, 1880), in scaphopod shells: male 6.3 mm (right), 1 female 5.1 mm (center), 1 ov female 5.8 mm (left), Curaçao, Curasub 12 – 09 (right and center specimens: CURI 12030, CURI 12031, USNM 1253259; left specimen USNM 1253260). (Photos: A, H. Taylor, NHM; B – E, B. B. Brown, Curaçao Seaquarium). Scale: 20 mm (A).