Halicarcinus varius ( Dana, 1851 )

Poore, Gary C. B., Guinot, Danièle, Komai, Tomoyuki & Naruse, Tohru, 2016, Reappraisal of species attributed to Halicarcinus White, 1846 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Hymenosomatidae) with diagnosis of four new genera and one new species from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Zootaxa 4093 (4), pp. 480-514 : 490

Halicarcinus varius ( Dana, 1851)

Hymenicus varius Dana, 1851: 253 .

Halicarcinus varius— Kemp 1917: 247. — Melrose 1975: 59 –69, figs 25–30, pl. 2 (for extensive synonymy). — Horn & Harms 1988: 1 –8. — Webber 2010: 190, 226.

Hymenicus marmoratus Chilton, 1882: 172 , pl. 8 fig. 1. — Chilton 1906: 270. — Tesch 1918: 17. — Chilton & Bennett 1929: 776 (type locality: sea-weed in rock-pools in Lyttelton Harbour [ New Zealand]).

Material examined. Syntypes of Hymenicus marmoratus . New Zealand, Lyttelton Harbour, CMNZ (male, 3.6 mm; 3 females, 2.8–3.0 mm).

Other material. New Zealand. Dunedin, NMV J7376 (1 male, 9.7 mm; 14 females). Specimens labelled ‘ Hymenicus marmoratus sent by Dr Chilton to S.W. Fulton rec. 23.05.[19]06’: Lyttelton and Akaroa, NMV J7088 (4 males, 6.4–7.2 mm; 1 female, 5.5 mm); Keneperu Sound, NMV J7091 (female, 6.6 mm); without locality, NMV J7089 (2 males, 3.5, 6.0 mm; 4 ovigerous females, 3.8–4.5 mm), NMV J7090 (1 female, 7.7 mm).

Distribution. New Zealand except its subantarctic islands ( McLay 1988).

Remarks. The material at hand conforms in all respects with typical Halicarcinus . The chelipeds are unusually setose and the rostrum prominent. Haswell (1882) recorded the species from Australia but it is unlikely to occur outside New Zealand. Hymenicus marmoratus Chilton, 1882 , was likened to Hymenicus varius in the author’s original description. Chilton (1906) and Chilton & Bennett (1929) questioned the validity of the species in subsequent publications. Melrose (1975) included Hymenicus marmoratus in the synonymy of Halicarcinus cookii , arguing that the large second lateral angle and colour are more similar to this species. Material (listed above) including specimens from Lyttelton, the type locality, was identified and labelled by Chilton and sent by him to S.W. Fulton in Melbourne. It is now in Museum Victoria. These specimens were identified by J. Lucas and by one of us (GCBP) as Halicarcinus varius which we conclude is its senior synonym.