Stoliczia stoliczkana ( Wood-Mason, 1871 )

Ng, Peter K. L., , Martyn E. Y. Low, Clark, & Paul F., 2022, Historical notes on various collectors of unidentified freshwater crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, with descriptions of two new species of Isolapotamon Bott, 1968 Potamidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 70, pp. 550-571 : 554

Stoliczia stoliczkana ( Wood-Mason, 1871)

Potamiscus (Stoliczia) stoliczkana Wood-Mason, 1871: 199 , pl. 12, figs. 8–12.

Material examined. Penang: 1 male ( NHM 1897.1.27.9), 610 m asl, coll. Capt. S.S. Flower, 27 November 1896 ; 2 males, 1 juv. ( NHM 1898.11.28), 610 m asl, coll. Capt. S.S. Flower, March 1898 ; 1 juv. (ex. NHM 1898.11.28, now 2022.157), 610 m asl, coll. Capt. S.S. Flower, March 1896. ZRC material – Penang: 1 male, 2 females, 1 juv. ( ZRC 1990.11565 – 11568 ), Botanic Gardens, coll. P.K.L. Ng, June 1987 ; 1 male ( ZRC 1989.2013 ), Titikarawang Waterfall, coll. P.K.L. Ng, June 1987 ; 1 male ( ZRC 2017.0061 ), Titikarawang Waterfall, coll. P.K.L. Ng, 21 December 2016 ; 1 juv. male ( ZRC 1994.1262 ), Telok Bahang forest stream, coll. K.K.P. Lim, 18 August 1993 .

Remarks. Some additional comments on the bottle of specimens associated with NHM registration number “ 1898.11.28 ” are necessary. The outside jar label actually only provides the following information in ink: “1898.11, Penang, S.S. Flower Esq” and is headed in pencil by “ Potamon ”. This documentation is in the handwriting of curator Jeffrey Bell (see Ingle, 1991). In the Zoological Accessions, Crustacea Register, there is, however, no entry for just “1898.11”. Instead, it appears to be “ 1898.11.28 ”, a registration number that is repeated, once in black ink and below in red. The entry associated with this is confusing, because it states “1–4, Anchistes inermis (in Pinna ), Kosichang, Gulf of Siam, Pres Capt. S.S. Flower.” This too is in the handwriting of curator Jeffrey Bell and the locality is different than that on the jar. Inserted after this in black ink is “(L.A. Borradaile det 1/15)”, followed in red ink by, “Bottle found with incomplete Reg. No. as given in red WTC (William Thomas Calman) 21.1.15.” Above “ inermis ” is an arrow followed by, “= custus Forsk.” This suggests that Calman had a problem finding this specimen of Anchistus inermis (Miers, 1884; probably under Harpilius ) for Borradaile to examine on a Museum visit dated 21 January 1915, when the identification of the specimen was redetermined as “ Anchistes custus Forskål, 1775” while Borradaile was working on his Pontoniidae revision ( Borradaile, 1898). The registration number on this jar label is 1898.11.28.1–4 and four specimens are preserved. There is also another indication arising from (L.A. Borradaile det 1/15), “ Metapenaeus n. sp. Redet. Burkenroad 1938”, but no trace of this taxon has to date been found. Also, squeezed in above Anchistes is, “1 Upogebia See 1977.178.” In the Zoological Accessions, Crustacea Register, the entry for accessions number 1977.178 reads, “ Upogebia carinicauda (Stimpson) , Kosichang, Gulf of Siam, coll. + pres. S.S. Flower, det. N. Ngoc-Ho”. These data sets suggest the original marine and freshwater crustacean specimens collected by Flower were not well labelled or were mixed up by later workers.

Moreover, while the external label on the bottle says “1898.11, Penang, S.S. Flower Esq”, there is a field note inside the jar that on one side is written “7 crabs” and on the other side “ PENANG. 2000’ March 1898. S.S. Flower.” There were four crab specimens inside, which are presently identified as Stoliczia stoliczkana . This species was described by Wood-Mason (1871) from Penang and is now regarded as an endemic species on the island occurring in many fast-flowing forest and hill streams (see Ng, 1988, 1992). The S. stoliczkana species-group has been revised by Ng (1992). There is one small juvenile specimen (ex. NHM 1898.11.28, now re-registered as NHM 2022.157) collected by Capt. S.S. Flower, which was difficult to identify with certainty. It, however, agrees well with many smaller ZRC specimens from various Penang sites that were examined for this study. Furthermore, this is the only known Stoliczia species on Penang. The absence of a flagellum on the exopod of the third maxilliped is a character present even in small S. stoliczkana specimens. The other three of the seven crabs inside the bottle collected by S.S. Flower from Penang in March 1898 are presently referred to Geosesarma penangense (Nobili, 1903) and are now re-registered as NHM 2022.912–914.