Minuca Bott, 1954

Shih, Hsi-Te, Ng, Peter K. L., Davie, Peter J. F., Schubart, Christoph D., Türkay, Michael, Naderloo, Reza, Jones, Diana & Liu, Min-Yun, 2016, Systematics of the family Ocypodidae Rafinesque, 1815 (Crustacea: Brachyura), based on phylogenetic relationships, with a reorganization of subfamily rankings and a review of the taxonomic status of Uca Leach, 1814, sensu lato and its subgenera, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 64, pp. 139-175 : 154-156

Minuca Bott, 1954 , status nov.

( Figs. 9G, H , 10A, B )

Minuca Bott, 1954: 155 , 160. Type species: Gelasimus mordax Smith, 1870 , by original designation. Gender feminine.

Diagnosis. Small- to medium-sized species (carapace width about 10–30 mm in adults); anterolateral margins long, curving into dorsolaterals; 2 posterolateral striae on dorsal carapace surface; front broad; cornea round; eyestalks slender; adult male major cheliped very large, right- or left-handed, pollex without ventral carina, outer surface of major manus smooth or with small to moderate-sized tubercles; male pleonites free; pleonal locking mechanism absent; gastric mill with 2 large brownish setae at base of posterior tooth plate. Confined to the Atlantic and East Pacific coasts of the Americas.

Species included: 1. Minuca argillicola ( Crane, 1941) 2. Minuca brevifrons ( Stimpson, 1860) 3. Minuca burgersi ( Holthuis, 1967)

= Uca panema Coelho, 1972 4. Minuca ecuadoriensis ( Maccagno, 1928)

= Uca schmitti Crane, 1943 5. Minuca galapagensis ( Rathbun, 1902)

= Gelasimus macrodactylus H. Milne Edwards &

Lucas, 1843 (suppressed by ICZN) 6. Minuca herradurensis ( Bott, 1954) 7. Minuca longisignalis ( Salmon & Atsaides, 1968) 8. Minuca marguerita ( Thurman, 1981) 9. Minuca minax ( LeConte, 1855) 10. Minuca mordax ( Smith, 1870) 11. Minuca osa ( Landstorfer & Schubart, 2010) 12. Minuca pugnax ( Smith, 1870)

= Ocypoda pusilla Rafinesque, 1817 (named suppressed for priority) 13. Minuca rapax ( Smith, 1870)

=? Gelasimus palustris H. Milne Edwards, 1852

=? Uca pugnax var. brasiliensis de Oliveira, 1939 14. Minuca virens ( Salmon & Atsaides, 1968) 15. Minuca victoriana ( von Hagen, 1987) 16. Minuca vocator ( Herbst, 1804)

= Uca salsisitus Oliveira, 1939

= Uca murifecenta Crane, 1943

= Uca lanigera von Hagen, 1968 17. Minuca zacae ( Crane, 1941)

= Uca macrodactyla glabromana Bott, 1954

Remarks. The present genetic analysis supports the reassignment by earlier authors of a number of species that were previously placed in Minuca , viz., Leptuca pygmaea and L. subcylindrica (see Beinlich & von Hagen, 2006), Petruca panamensis , L. thayeri and L. umbratila (see Shih et al., 2015; also see present Remarks under Petruca and Leptuca ). Similarly, the transfer of Minuca argillicola from Leptuca by Beinlich & von Hagen (2006) is also supported ( Fig. 2 ).

Compared with Leptuca , we have molecular data for all the Minuca species except M. marguerita . Some species of Minuca have been discussed in earlier studies, e.g., the transisthmian species-pairs of M. vocator / M. ecuadoriensis , and M. herradurensis / M. galapagensis ( Landstorfer & Schubart, 2010) ; the early split of M. brevifrons from other species ( Shih et al., 2015); the close relationships between M. burgersi and M. mordax ( Shih et al., 2015) and between M. osa , M. vocator and M. ecuadoriensis ( Landstorfer & Schubart, 2010) ; and the taxonomic uncertainty regarding M. virens and M. longisignalis (the former may be valid, while the latter is likely to be a junior synonym of M. minax ). Shih et al. (2015) used U. cf. virens and “ U. longisignalis ” to refer to these taxa, and this terminology is retained in Figure 2 and Appendix 1. This matter will need further attention and is currently being studied by one of the authors (CDS). Overall, Minuca has a more limited distribution in the Americas than Uca and Leptuca ( Fig. 4 ).

Figures

Fig. 9. Photographs of some species of the genera Cranuca, Leptuca and Minuca. A, C. inversa (East Africa); B, L. deichmanni (Panama); C, L. speciosa (Bahamas); D, L. terpsichores (Panama); E, L. thayeri (Brazil); F, L. umbratila (Panama); G, M. brevifrons (Costa Rica); H, M. burgersi (Bahamas). A, courtesy of S. Cannicci.

Fig. 10. Photographs of some species of the genera Minuca, Paraleptuca, Petruca and Tubuca. A, M. herradurensis (Panama); B, M. rapax (Brazil); C, Pa. chlorophthalmus (East Africa); D, Pa. crassipes (Donghsa, Taiwan); E, Pa. splendida (Penghu, Taiwan); F, Pe. panamensis (Costa Rica); G, T. arcuata (Hainan, China); H, T. bellator (Labuan, Malaysia). C, courtesy of S. Cannicci.

Fig. 2. A Bayesian inference (BI) tree of the family Ocypodidae and outgroups, based on the combined 28S, 16S and COI markers. The solid circle at the node means it is strongly supported by both BI (≥ 90) and ML (≥ 70); and the open circle means only one method is strongly supported. Name of species or genus quoted means it is suggested as a synonym in this study.

Fig. 4. The distribution of 11 genera of fiddler crabs, mainly based on Crane (1975) and the website (http://www.fiddlercrab.info/index. html; Rosenberg, 2014).