Dardanus hessii ( Miers, 1884 )

Rahayu, Dwi Listyo, 2022, Hermit crabs of Singapore (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae, Paguridae), with description of two new species, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 70, pp. 329-363 : 332

Dardanus hessii ( Miers, 1884)

( Fig. 2A, B )

Pagurus hessii Miers, 1884: 264 , pl. 28, fig. 4 (type locality:

Arafura Sea); Alcock, 1905b: 93, pl. 8, fig. 4. Pagurus similimanus Henderson, 1888: 59 , pl. 6, fig. 6. Pagurus hessi – Fize & Serène, 1955: 158, fig. 34, pl. 4. Dardanus hessii – Forest & McLaughlin, 2000: 85, fig. 27;

McLaughlin et al., 2007: 87, unnumbered fig.; Rahayu & Ong,

2015: 145, figs. 1–4.

Material examined. 1 male, 13.8 mm ( ZRC 2021.0105 ), SEA8656, 01°15.925′N 103°53.779′E, 4 November 2014 .

Colour in life. In general, body and appendages creamy white ( Fig. 2A, B ). Shield mottled grey and white; ocular peduncle broken white or greyish white with longitudinal red stripe on lateral and mesial face, corneas black; chelipeds with dactyl, fixed finger, and dorsomesial surface of palm red, rest of chelipeds mottled light brown, grey and white. P2 and P3 greyish white, light brown or creamy white with red streaks on lower lateral face of propodi.

Distribution. Red Sea to Torres Strait, Vietnam, and Taiwan, at depths of 15–55 m, possibly to 80 m, on sandy mud substrate.

Remarks. This is not a very common species but is easily recognised by the subequal, spinuous chelipeds, and obviously dilated corneas.

Figures

Fig. 2. A, B, Dardanus hessii (Miers, 1884), male, 13.8 mm (ZRC 2021.0105), B, photo from Rahayu & Ong, 2015; C, D, Dardanus lagopodes (Forskål, 1775), male, 14.9 mm (ZRC 2021.0106); E, Dardanus megistos (Herbst, 1804), not measured, St John’s Island, 2013.