Lepidopa californica Efford, 1971

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 160-161

Lepidopa californica Efford, 1971

( Fig. 38C, D)

Lepidopa myops: Holmes 1900: 172 . — Schmitt 1921: 172, pl. 31, fig. 4. — Johnson & Snook 1927: 349, figs. 296, 297. — MacGinitie & MacGinitie 1968: 305 fig. 149. — Haig et al. 1970: 25. — Haig & Abbott 1980: 583. — Ricketts et al. 1985: 336, fig. 216. — Jensen 1995: 77, fig. 157. [Not Lepidopa myops Stimpson, 1860: 241 (now Paraleucolepidopa myops , from western Mexico, see Boyko 2002].

Lepidopa californica Efford, 1971: 59 .— Boyko 2002: 140, figs. 46, 47 (extensive synonymy).— Kuris et al. 2007: 648.

Diagnosis. Carapace somewhat square, marked with transverse grooves, median projection of front rounded, anterolateral margin with only one tooth, median ridge unarmed. Both antennae long and setose, first antennae twice as long as carapace. Eyestalk flat. First pereopods chelate. Pereopods 2–4 flattened, with semicircular dactyls. Abdominal somites well separated laterally, telson triangular. Carapace length to 20 mm.

Color in life. Gray, white or bluish, with iridescent sheen ( Jensen 1995).

Habitat and depth. Protected or open coast sandy beaches, lower intertidal zone, rarely as deep as 128 m.

Range. Rarely as far north as Monterey Bay , California ; usually from San Pedro, California to the Gulf of California. Type locality Long Beach, California .

Remarks. This crab burrows deeply. The long antennules form a passageway for respiration while buried.