Arcotheres similis ( Bürger, 1895 ), Burger, 1895

Ahyong, Shane T. & Brown, Diane E., 2003, Description of Durckheimia lochi n. sp., with an annotated checklist of Australian Pinnotheridae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Zootaxa 254, pp. 1-20 : 9-10

Arcotheres similis ( Bürger, 1895)

Pinnotheres similis Bürger, 1895: 373 , pl. 9: fig. 14 [type locality: Ubay, Philippines]. — Rathbun, 1924: 15. — Davie, 2002: 434.

Pinnotheres sp. — Ward 1967: 62.

Arcotheres similis . — Campos & Manning, 2001: 168. — Campos, 2001: 494.

Material. QLD: AM P7067, 4 males (cw 4.0– 6.8 mm, cl 3.4–6.8 mm), 5 females (cw 8.9– 11.7 mm, cl 7.0–9.0 mm), Fields Reef, Port Denison, 20°01’S, 148°15’E, from young Pinna sp. in shallow water, E. Rainford, 1923; AM P12173, 1 female (cw 8.9 mm, cl 7.1 mm), Michelmas Cay, 16°35’S, 146°02’E, from Pinna sp. on coral reef, Whitley & Iredale, Jun 1926; AM P64685, 1 female (cw 12.2 mm, cl 9.0 mm), Lindeman Id., dredged, M. Ward, Dec 1928. NT: AM P20161, 1 female (cw 11.5 mm, cl 9.2 mm), East Arm, Darwin Harbour, in mytilid Stavilla (sic) horrida (= Staveila subdistorta ), O. Cameron, 19 Dec 1971.

Australian hosts. Bivalve molluscs. Crassostrea or Saccostrea sp. ( Ostreidae ) ( Rathbun 1924, as Ostrea sp.). Staveila subdistorta Recluz, 1852 (Mytilidae) , Pinna sp. ( Pinnidae ) (this study).

Remarks. Ward (1967) noted the presence of a species of Pinnotheres living in Pinna in shallow waters off the beach at Lindeman island, Queensland. Unfortunately, Ward's account is a generalised narrative of species observed on the sandy beaches and associated shallow waters at Lindeman Island. We tentatively assign Pinnotheres sp. of Ward (1967) to A. similis . The specimen data for the Lindeman Island specimen are not sufficiently detailed to reasonably confirm that it represents the species seen by Ward, but the specimen was collected by him and the species is known to infect Pinna spp.

Distribution. Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia ( Schmitt et al. 1973). In Australia, the species is known from northwestern Australia and now from the Northern Territory and Queensland.