Oncopagurus gracilis ( Henderson, 1888 )

Lemaitre, Rafael & Tavares, Marcos, 2015, New taxonomic and distributional information on hermit crabs (Crustacea: Anomura: Paguroidea) from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic coast of South America, Zootaxa 3994 (4), pp. 451-506 : 497

Oncopagurus gracilis ( Henderson, 1888)

Parapagurus gracilis Henderson, 1888: 92 , pl. 10, fig. 3 (type locality: off Alagoas, Brazil, HMS Challenger, sta 122, 09°05’S, 34°50’W, 640 m).

Sympagurus arcuatus A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1893: 67 , pl. 5, figs 21–28 (type locality: St. Lucia, Caribbean Sea, USCGS Blake, sta 218, 13°49.12’N, 61°04.40’S).

Pylopagurus exquisitus Boone, 1927: 71 , fig. 14 (type locality: Pawnee I, N of Glover Reef, off the coast of British Honduras [= Belize])

Oncopagurus gracilis .— Lemaitre, 1996: 194.—Lemaitre, 2014: 252, fig. 25A–J, 51.—McLaughlin et al., 2005: 246.— Coelho et al., 2007: 10, tab. 1.—Felder et al., 2009: 1071.— McLaughlin et al., 2010: 39.— Campos et al., 2005: 139, figs. 99, 100.— Campos et al., 2012: 240.

Type material. Lectotype designated by Lemaitre (1989), male 2.8 mm, off Alagoas, Brazil, HMS Challenger, sta 122, 09°05’S, 34°50’W, 640 m, 10.9.1883 ( BMNH 1888: 33).

New material. Southwestern Atlantic. Brazil: TAAF MD55, sta 4 CP 0 7, 21°31’S, 40°07’W, 750–785 m, 10 may1987: 1 male 4.0 mm, in gastropod shell with actinian polyp, ( MZUSP 16812); TAAF MD55, sta 42 CB 76, 18°58’S, 37°49’W, 600–637 m, 27 May1987: 8 males 2.2–3.3 mm, 1 ov female 2.4 mm, in gastropod shells ( MZUSP 16817); TAAF MD55, sta 54 CB 93, 19°36’S, 38°53’W, 707–733 m, 30 May1987: 19 males 1.5–3.4 mm, 1 female 1.8 mm, 12 ov females 2.1–2.7 mm, in gastropod shells, ( MZUSP 16829), 4 males 2.4–2.9 mm, 1 female (parasitized) 1.9 mm, in gastropod shells, ( MZUSP 16822), 2 males 2.2, 2.9 mm ( MZUSP 16833); TAAF MD55, sta 57 CB 97, 21°34’S, 40°08’W, 600 m, 31 May 1987: 2 males 3.0, 3.1 mm, in gastropod shells ( MZUSP 16821), 1 male 3.1 mm, 1 ov female 2.7 mm, in gastropod shells ( MZUSP 16831); TAAF MD55, sta 58 CB 98, 21°35’S, 40°03’W, 900 m, 31 May 1987: 3 males 2.3–2.4 mm, 3 females 1.2–2.6 mm ( MZUSP 16816); TAAF MD55, 63 CB 104, 430 m, 23°42’S, 42°07’W, 430 m, 1 Jun 1987: 4 males 1.8–2.1 mm, 7 ov females 1.7–2.2 mm, in gastropod shells ( MZUSP 16819), 3 males 1.6–2.0 mm, 1 female 1.2 mm, 4 ov females 1.6–1.8 mm, in gastropods shells except for non-ov female in scaphopod ( MZUSP 16828); TAAF MD55, sta 64 CB 105, 23°46’S, 42°09’W, 592–610 m, 2 Jun 1987: 6 males 3.4–3.6 mm, in gastropod shells, ( MZUSP 16810), 7 males 1.8–3.0 mm, 1 female 1.6 mm, 2 ov females 1.9, 2.4 mm, in gastropod shells ( MZUSP 16811), 19 males 1.9–3.1 mm, 1 ov female 2.1 mm ( MZUSP 16820), 44 males 1.5–3.2 mm, 1 female 2.0 mm, 40 ov females 2.0– 4.9 mm, in gastropod shells, ( MZUSP 16824), 41 males 1.8–3.0 mm, 15 ov females 1.6–2.1 mm, ( MZUSP 16823), 29 males 1.3–2.7 mm, 6 females 1.3–2.2 mm, 11 ov females 1.6–1.9 mm ( MZUSP 16825); TAAF MD55, sta 65 CB 106, 830 m, 23°54’S, 42°10’W, 2 Jun 1987: 1 male 2.5 mm ( MZUSP 16818).

Diagnosis. See Lemaitre (2014).

Distribution. Western Atlantic: from the Straits of Florida and Gulf of Mexico to off northern coast of São Paulo, Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: from Gulf of Guinea and off Angola. Depth: 146 to 900 m.

Remarks. This species had been previously reported from Brazil as far south as Alagoas (Coelho & Ramos- Porto 1987, as Parapagurus bicristatus gracilis ; Rieger 1998, as Parapagurus gracilis ; Melo 1999, as Sympagurus gracilis ; Coelho et al. 2007; Lemaitre 2014). The abundant material reported herein is from much further south to nearly 24°S, off the coast of São Paulo, and in waters 266 m deeper than previously known.

As previously mentioned for the collecting locality of the lectotype of Paguristes visor (= P. spinipes ), Henderson (1888: 93) indicated that HMS Challenger, sta 122, where the types of Oncopagurus gracilis were also collected, came from "off Pernambuco" at 09°05’S, 34°50’W, whereas those geographic coordinates are actually located further south, off the coast of the State of Alagoas. Thus the latter is the correct type locality as well for this parapagurid species.