Pachycheles serratus ( Benedict, 1901 )

Ferreira, Luciane Augusto De Azevedo & Anker, Arthur, 2021, An annotated and illustrated checklist of the porcelain crabs of Panama (Decapoda: Anomura), Zootaxa 5045 (1), pp. 1-154 : 53

Pachycheles serratus ( Benedict, 1901)

Pisosoma serrata Benedict 1901: 135 , pl. 3, fig. 7.

Pachycheles serratus . — Haig 1956: 8 (part.); Haig 1962: 181 (part.?); Gore 1970: 962, fig. 2 (part.); Werding 1977: 194, fig. 15 (part.); Gore 1982: 9 (part.); Lira et al. 2003: 49, fig. 1; Werding & Hiller 2017: 280, fig. 1b; Poupin 2018: 148.

Not Pachycheles serratus .— Gore & Abele 1976: 20; Werding 1978a: 219; Werding 1982: 441; Rodríguez et al. 2005: 557 (part.), pl. 1, fig. F; Vargas & Cortés 2006: 463 [= Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017 ].

Material examined. Panama [Caribbean]: 2 males, cl 4.9, cw 5.5 and cl 4.3, cw 4.4 ( MZUSP 33792 ) , Isla Grande , southwest coast, depth 0.5–2 m, in dead corals, leg. A. Anker, J.F. Lazarus-Agudelo & T. Kaji, 27.03.2015 .

Previous records from Panama. Haig (1956); Gore (1970, 1982); Werding & Hiller (2017).

Distribution. West Atlantic: Puerto Rico, N Lesser Antilles, Panama (Bocas del Toro, Bahía Limón / Caribbean entrance to Panama Canal, Punta Galeta, Isla Grande, but see below), Colombia and Venezuela ( Haig 1960; Gore 1982; Werding & Hiller 2017; present study).

Ecology. Intertidal and shallow subtidal, known depth range: 0–6 m; typically on exposed rocky reefs and fossilised coral reef platforms, dwelling deep in crevices ( Werding 1977; present study).

Remarks. According to Hiller & Werding (2017), part of the material of P. serratus reported by Haig (1956), Gore (1970; 1982), Werding (1977), as well as material reported under that name by Gore & Abele (1976), Werding (1978, 1982) and Vargas & Cortés (2006), in fact represents P. tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017 (see below). Therefore, at least some of the Panamanian localities listed above for P. serratus may be incorrect as they may correspond to misidentified specimens of P. tuerkayi , although based on presently available collection data, both species often occur syntopically and may share the same microhabitats. The present material confirms the presence of P. serratus in Isla Grande, in addition to its indirectly inferred occurence in Bahía Limón and Punta Galeta ( Gore 1982; Werding & Hiller 2017). The two males of P. serratus from Isla Grande were not photographed alive (see Werding & Hiller 2017 for a colour photograph of a Colombian specimen).