Dromia verrucosipes Adams, 1847

Low, Martyn E. Y., Ng, Peter K. L. & Clark, Paul F., 2020, Additional notes on the publication of the Narrative, Zoology and Notes from a Journal of Research into the Natural History of the Voyage of H. M. S. Samarang and its consequences for the nomenclature of decapod crustaceans and other taxa, Zootaxa 4809 (2), pp. 271-305 : 295

Dromia verrucosipes Adams, 1847 and Dromia verrucosipes White, 1847 : nomina nuda identifiable with Stimdromia angulata ( Sakai, 1936) ( Decapoda : Brachyura : Dromiidae )

Adams (1847c: 314, 315) states: “Most of the Dorippe inhabit deep water, from twenty to thirty fathoms, living on a muddy bottom. They are very numerous in the China Sea. The Chinese fishermen often bring them up in their nets, and among large numbers which I have observed in their boats, I have found nearly every individual with an adventitious body (I believe an alcyonoid sponge) attached to the carapace, and retained in its position by the hooks of the two small posterior dorsal pairs of legs. This body is divisible into a thin brown layer, with concentric fibres, and an external, white lamina, with radiating fibres, and a dark central nucleus. I have frequently noticed precisely the same peculiarity in Dromia verrucosipes , in the Meïa-co-shimah Group, and I believe naturalists have perceived the same habit among other genera. Many of the specimens both of Dorippe and of Dromia which I examined in this condition, had perfectly soft carapaces, and this body may serve them as a protection during the season of their moulting”. White (1847a: 55) listed: “ Dromia verrucosipes . n.s. a—d. Philippine Islands (Rohol). From the collection of Mr. Cuming”. The locality should correctly be “ Bohol ” (J.C.E. Mendoza, pers. comm.).

The names Dromia verrucosipes Adams, 1847 and Dromia verrucosipes White, 1847 , are nomina nuda. If they are referring to the same taxon however, then the distribution of this taxon would be from the “Meïa-co-shimah Group” (= Miyako-Jima), which was the name that Adams (1847c) used collectively for the Miyako and Yaeyama groups (see Takeda & Ota 1996: 83), to Bohol, Philippines, in White (1847a: 55). Additionally, Dromia verrucosipes displays sponge-carrying behaviour.

McLay (2001: 847) states: “ Dromia verrucosipes White, 1847 ”, a nomen nudum, was based on specimens purchased from a Mr H. Cuming who obtained them from the Philippine Islands. Subsequently, “ D. verrucosipes ” was synonymised with Cryptodromia lateralis (Gray, 1831) from Australia, by Miers (1884: 259) and Henderson (1888: 5, 6). As a result, Estampador (1937: 510) listed C. lateralis in his checklist of Philippine decapods. McLay (1993: 168) transferred Dromia lateralis Gray, 1831 , to his new genus Stimdromia and showed that the Philippine specimens belonged to an undescribed species of Stimdromia . This species is listed in Table 6 as “ Stimdromia sp.”.

The Philippine specimens which supposedly belong to an “undescribed species of Stimdromia ” mentioned by McLay (2001: 847), have yet to be described. Stimdromia lateralis (Gray, 1831) is restricted to Australia and New Zealand ( Davie 2002: 166). Since Dromia verrucosipes White, 1847a and Dromia verrucosipes Adams, 1847 are from Japan, it is more likely that they are conspecific with Stimdromia angulata ( Sakai, 1936) , which is distributed throughout Japan and the Philippines ( Sakai, 1936: 31; McLay 1993: 169; McLay & Ng 2005: 2, table 1)..

As Dromia verrucosipes White, 1847 , and Dromia verrucosipes Adams, 1847 are nomina nuda, identifying them with Stimdromia angulata ( Sakai, 1936) will not cause nomenclatural problems.