Pagurus heblingi Nucci & Melo, 2003

Nucci, Paulo Ricardo & Melo, Gustavo Augusto Schmidt De, 2007, Hermit crabs from Brazil. Family Paguridae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Paguroidea): Genus Pagurus, Zootaxa 1406, pp. 47-59 : 54

Pagurus heblingi Nucci & Melo, 2003

(Figs. 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D)

Pagurus heblingi Nucci & Melo, 2003: 351 , fig. 1.— Lemaitre & Castaño, 2004: 71.

Diagnosis. Shield slightly broader than long, anterior margins concave between rostrum and lateral projections. Rostrum obtuse, rounded. Lateral projections slightly overreaching rostrum, each with small spine turned outwards. Ocular peduncles short and stout, corneae dilated. Ocular acicles each with strong submarginal spine, mesial margins straight. Right cheliped longer and stronger than left; dactyl approximately twothirds length of palm; palm slightly convex, approximately as long as carpus, dorsolateral margin with low serrulate teeth; dorsomesial margin of carpus with row of spines increasing in size from median to distal region; merus with several transverse rows of setae on dorsal, dorsomesial, and mesial faces. Left cheliped approximately as long as right, but much weaker and more slender; dactyl and fixed finger slender, each longer than palm; carpus as long as merus, with row of irregular spines on ventromesial and ventrolateral margins; merus with several scattered transverse row of setae. Second pereopods long and slender; dactyls longer than propodi, with setae on dorsal face, curved ventrally; propodi longer than carpi, unarmed; dorsal face of carpi with tufts of setae and strong distal spine; meri twice longer than carpi and with 4 or 5 spines on each ventral margin; meri of third pereopods totally unarmed. Telson with posterior lobes almost symmetrical, separated by median cleft; terminal margins each armed with strong spines; lateral margins each with tufts of long setae.

Distribution. Known only from type locality, Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, in depths between 300 and 400 metres.

Types. Holotype — male, Cabo Frio, RJ, Carlo M. da Cunha col. (MZUSP–13993); Paratypes — 8 males, Cabo Frio, RJ, Carlo M. da Cunha col. (MZUSP–13994).

Material examined. Brazil: Rio de Janeiro — Cabo Frio, 9 males with shield lengths from 3.2 to 4.4 mm ( MZUSP –13993 and MZUSP –13994).

Remarks. Pagurus heblingi , P. exilis , P. longimanus and P. limatulus are similar in the general aspect of the cephalic region. These species can be easily distinguished by means of several characters: the ocular acicles of P. heblingi have straight mesial margins, whereas in P. exilis , P. longimanus and P. limatulus they are rounded. The right cheliped of P. heblingi has the palm ovate and almost without tubercles and granules; in P. exilis , the palm is elongated and covered by tubercles and granules and in P. longimanus , the palm is longer than the palms of the other three species. In P. heblingi , the dactyls of the ambulatory legs are longer and/or more slender than in P. exilis , P. longimanus and P. limatulus . P. heblingi also has the antennular flagellum longer than in all other species of the genus Pagurus which occur in Brazil.