Cryptodromia hilgendorfi De Man, 1888

Mclay, Colin L. & Hosie, Andrew M., 2022, The sponge crabs of Western Australia and the Northwest Shelf with descriptions of new genera and species (Crustacea: Brachyura: Dromiidae), Zootaxa 5129 (3), pp. 301-355 : 318-320

Cryptodromia hilgendorfi De Man, 1888

Cryptodromia hilgendorfi De Man, 1888: 404 , pl. 18, fig 3.— Buitendijk, 1939: 224.— Campbell & Stephenson, 1970: 245, fig. 3.— Lewinsohn, 1977: 13, fig. 2; 1984: 109.— McLay, 1982: 317; 1983: 17; 1993: 205, fig. 18 d; 1998: 347.— Davie, 2002: 160.

Material examined. Western Australia: WAM C13528, Wyadup Rocks, Yallingup , 33°39’00”S, 115°01’00”E, under granite boulders, intertidal, coll. B R Wilson, 1-01-1971: female 5.1 × 4.9 mm (sponge cap) ; WAM C13545, Lacepede Island, Rowley Shoals Expedition , 16°52’00’S, 112°08’00”E, reef flat, 29-07-1982: male 5.4 × 5.1 mm, female 5.5 × 5.1 mm, ovig female 5.8 × 5.5 mm ; WAM C13564, Good Friday Bay, Abrolhos Islands , dredged, 27–36 m , CSIRO, 11-03-1963: male 5.4 × 5.3 mm .

Remarks. Cryptodromia hilgendorfi was described and figured by McLay (1993). This species was reported by Campbell & Stephenson (1970) from Moreton Bay, Queensland, where it was the subject of a detailed study about its population biology, settlement and use of sponges and ascidians for concealment ( McLay 1982, 1983). Cryptodromia hilgendorfi remains the only dromiid whose reproductive biology and growth pattern have been investigated to date.

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific including Red Sea to Funafuti Atoll, Philippine Ids, New Caledonia and Queensland. The present material is the first to be reported from Western Australia. Depth range for the species is intertidal to 88 m