Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017

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 : 59

Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017

( Figs. 30 , 31 , 90C )

Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller 2017: 1282 , figs. 1a, 2, 3.

Material examined. Panama [Caribbean]: 1 male, cl 4.3, cw 4.7, 1 ov. female, cl 5.2, cw 5.8 ( FLMNH UF 57134 ), Bocas del Toro, between Isla Bastimentos and Isla Solarte, 9°20’18.7”N, 82°13’02.8”W, depth less than 2 m, in dead corals, leg. P.P.G. Pachelle 29.03.2019 (fcn PP 19-120); 1 ov. female, cl 4.7, cw 4.9 ( MZUSP 40065 ), Bocas del Toro, Ponsak, depth 1 m, shallow flat with rubble, zoanthids, sponges, in crevices of Agaricia rubble, leg. A. Anker et al., 22.07.2018; 2 males, cl 5.2, cw 5.3 and cl 5.0, cw 5.1 ( MZUSP 33456 ), about 3 km west of Portobelo , depth 0.5–1.5 m, in coral rocks, leg. A. Anker & J.F. Lazarus-Agudelo 25.03.2015; 1 male, cl 3.9, cw 4.0, 1 ov. female, cl 4.5, cw 4.8 ( MZUSP 33788 ), between Sabanitas and Portobelo, shallow intertidal flat with fossilised coral platform and adjacent step drop-off, in coral rocks at wave breaking area, leg. J.F. Lazarus-Agudelo, 25.03.2015; 2 males, cl 4.6, cw 4.7 and cl 5.1, cw 5.2 ( MZUSP 40064 ) , Isla Grande, northern side, large shallow bay, wave-exposed intertidal rocks, deep in rock crevices, leg. A. Anker et al. 31.07.2018 .

Previous records from Panama. Werding & Hiller (2017).

Distribution. West Atlantic: Costa Rica, Panama (Bocas del Toro, Portobelo, Isla Grande, Bahía de Caledonia) and Colombia (Werding & Hiller 2017; present study).

Ecology. Intertidal and shallow subtidal, known depth range: 0–4 m, possibly deeper; typically on exposed rocky reefs and fossilised coral reef platforms, dwelling deep in crevices, also on subtidal rocky bottoms, under large boulders, or in more sheltered conditions, e.g. on shallow flats with abundant rubble of Agaricia agaricites (Linnaeus) (Werding & Hiller 2017; present study).

Remarks. Pachycheles tuerkayi belongs to a small group of species characterised by the carapace sparsely covered with setae and the carpus and palm of P1 covered with granules. This group is represented by P. cristobalensis , P. serratus and P. greeleyi ( Rathbun, 1900) in the western Atlantic; P. calculosus and P. setimanus ( Lockington, 1878) in the eastern Pacific; P. chacei in both the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific; and P. sahariensis Monod, 1933 in the eastern Atlantic. Pachycheles tuerkayi is morphologically most similar to P. serratus , but can be distinguished by the carapace smooth dorsally (vs. coarser in P. serratus ); the P1 densely covered with setae dorsally ( Figs. 30 , 31 ; see also Fig. 90C and colour photographs in Rodríguez et al. 2005, as P. serratus ; and Werding & Hiller 2017) (vs. with at most a few scattered setae in P. serratus ); and the distal margin of P1 palm depressed near the base of the pollex (vs. not depressed in P. serratus ) (Werding & Hiller 2017). The two species have been largely confused in the past as two different forms of P. serratus , the “wooly-handed” form (or “pubescent” form in Werding & Hiller 2017) and the “smooth-handed” form, the first corresponding to P. serratus and the second to P. tuerkayi .

Figures

FIGURE 30. Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017: A, B, ovigerous female (cl 5.2 mm, cw 5.8 mm) from Bocas del Toro, Panama (FLMNH UF 57134), dorsal (A) and ventral (B) view [photographs courtesy of Paulo P.G. Pachelle].

FIGURE 31. Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017: A, B, ovigerous female (cl 5.2 mm, cw 5.3 mm) from west of Portobelo, Panama (MZUSP 33456), dorsal (A) and frontodorsal (B) views [photographs by AA].

FIGURE 90. Some western Atlantic Porcellanidae (all species reported from Panama or Golfo de Urabá at the Panamanian- Colombian border) photographed in situ: A, Neopisosoma angustifrons (Benedict, 1901), Golfo de Urabá, Colombia; B, Neopisosoma neglectum Werding, 1986, Golfo de Urabá, Colombia; C, Pachycheles tuerkayi Werding & Hiller, 2017, Santa Marta, Colombia; D, Petrolisthes jugosus Streets, 1872, Tayrona, Colombia; E, Petrolisthes tonsorius Haig, 1960, blue colour morph, Bonaire; F, Petrolisthes quadratus Benedict, 1901, Bonaire [photographs courtesy of Juan-Felipe Lazarus-Agudelo (A–D) and Marco Faasse (E, F)].