Mithraculus forceps A. Milne-Edwards, 1875

Parasram, Nadeshinie, Santana, William & Vallès, Henri, 2023, Checklist of the shallow-water marine Brachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda) of Barbados, West Indies, Zootaxa 5314 (1), pp. 1-62 : 24

Mithraculus forceps A. Milne-Edwards, 1875

( Fig. 10B )

Mithraculus forceps A. Milne-Edwards, 1875: 109 , pl. 23, fig. 1 [type-locality: Cayenne, French Guiana; type in MNHN]; Wagner 1990: 48; Hernández et al. 1992, tab. 2; Melo 1996: 229, unnumbered fig.; Lira et al. 2013: 54, tab. 1; Alves et al. 2012: 942, fig. 3B; Boos et al. 2012: 1028; Windsor & Felder 2014: 147, tab. 1; Klompmaker et al. 2015: 3, tab. 1; Carmona-Suárez & Poupin 2016: 372, fig. 6F; Assugeni et al. 2017: 1630, tab. 1; González-Gómez et al. 2018: 11, tab. 1; Poupin 2018: 194; Mantelatto et al. 2020: 40 , fig. 13B; Tavares & Mendonça 2022: 40.

Mithrax forceps .— Miers, 1886: 87–88; Rathbun, 1901: 70; Hay & Shore 1918: 457, pl. 38, fig.1; Jones 1969: 382; Rathbun 1924: 20; Rodríguez 1980: 288.

Mithrax (Mithraculus) forceps .— Rathbun, 1921: 85; 1925: 431, pl. 156; 1933: 32; Chace 1940: 67; Williams 1965: 258, figs. 238, 245E; Coelho & Ramos 1972: 216; Powers 1977: 55; Williams 1984: 337, figs. 272, 275f; Keith 1985: 257, fig. 4E.

Distribution. Western Atlantic: USA (North Carolina), Gulf of Mexico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbados, Tobago, Trinidad, Los Testigos, Coche, Margarita, Cubagua, Tortuga, Los Roques, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Venezuela, Brazil, Rocas Atoll, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade island, and Martin Vaz ( Melo 1996; Poupin 2018; Tavares & Mendonça 2022).

Material examined. Barbados, Drill Hall , St. Michael, nearshore rubble, 13°04’36.30” N, 59°36’26.63”W, 1 Ô CW: 15.8 mm ( BLSZ 156 ) . Idem , 1 Ô CW: 12.2 mm ( BLSZ 184 ) . Coconut Court , Christ Church, nearshore rubble, 13°04’31.59”N, 59°36’13.78”W, 1 Ô CW: 10.4 mm ( BLSZ 183 ) . Idem , 1 Ô CW: 20.0 mm ( MZUSP 40892 ) .

Remarks. Specimens of Mithraculus forceps were collected by hand at low tide in nearshore rubble habitat on the west and south coast of Barbados. Mithraculus forceps is very common in this habitat and can often be seen under the same rubble rock as Eriphia gonagra , Mithraculus coryphe , Nemausa cornuta ( de Saussure, 1857) , Amphithrax aculeatus , Amphithrax verrucosus , Cataleptodious floridanus ( Gibbes, 1850) , and Pachygrapsus transversus ( Gibbes, 1850) . An ovigerous female was collected in June 2021. Rathbun (1921: 85) reported specimens of Mithrax (Mithraculus) forceps (one ovigerous female, USNM 72898); two males and three juveniles, USNM 72896) for Barbados that were collected by the Barbados-Antigua Expedition in 1918 at depths of 151 m (84 fathoms). Two juvenile males, (USNM 1519292) were also collected by this expedition; however, these specimens were not mentioned by Rathbun (1921). Jones (1969: 382) also reported this species for Barbados as Mithrax forceps . This species is a target of the ornamental aquarium trade due to its ability to control the growth of the bubble algae ( Valonia sp. ) and is harvested in large numbers in the Florida Keys and Haiti (Rhyne et al. 2004). Mithraculus forceps can be identified by the presence of four acute spines on the anterolateral margin of carapace ( Rathbun 1925; Wagner 1990).

Genus Mithrax Latreille, 1816

Figures

FIGURE 10. Superfamily Majoidea Samouelle, 1819, dorsal habitus:A, Mithraculus coryphe (Herbst, 1801), male, cw 8.2 mm (BLSZ 121); B, Mithraculus forceps A. Milne-Edwards, 1875, female, cw 15.4 mm (BLSZ 208); C, Mithrax hispidus (Herbst, 1790), male (juv.), cw 11.2 mm (BLSZ 029). Scale bars: A, B: 20 mm; C = 10 mm.