Pagurixus fimbriata, McLaughlin and Haig, 1989

Osawa, M. & Takeda, M., 2004, Hermit crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea) from submarine caves in the Ryukyu Islands, south-western Japan, Journal of Natural History 38, pp. 1097-1132 : 1111

Pylopaguropsis fimbriata McLaughlin and Haig, 1989

Pylopaguropsis zebra: Wooster, 1979: 173; Minemizu, 2000: 155, unnumbered figure. Not Pylopaguropsis zebra (Henderson, 1893).

Pylopaguropsis undescribed sp. 2: Haig and Ball, 1988: 190.

Pylopaguropsis fimbriata McLaughlin and Haig, 1989: 164, figures 1f, l, 2f, 4d, 6d, 8e, 10d, 12d, 13i; Rahayu, 1994: 76 (list); Nomura et al., 1996: 14, 19 (lists); Asakura, 2000: 85, figures 1C–E, 8, 9, 19D; Kato and Okuno, 2001: 81, unnumbered figure; Minemizu, 2002: 155, unnumbered figure.

Material examined. NSMT-Cr 14365; two males (SL 2.7, 2.9 mm); Ie Island ; small tunnel near ‘ Shodokutsu’; 26°42.9∞N, 127°50.1°13∞E; 20 m; 13 October 1990 . NSMT-Cr 14366; one male (SL 2.7 mm); Irabu islet, Miyako Group; ‘L-arch’; 24°51.7∞N, 125°09.7∞E; 24 m; 14 June 1991 . NSMT-Cr 14386; one ovigerous female (SL 2.9 mm); Shimoji islet, Miyako Group; ‘W-arch’; 24°51.7∞N, 125°09.7∞E; 13–15 m; 3 August 1999 .

Colour. See McLaughlin and Haig (1989), Asakura (2000), Minemizu (2000, as P. zebra ), Minemizu (2002) and Kato and Okuno (2001).

Habitat. Pylopaguropsis fimbriata is occasionally found under large dead coral plates and blocks in the moats or on crevices and horizontal holes of fore-reef slopes of the Ryukyu Islands.

Distribution. Guam, east Malaysia, Indonesia, and Ryukyu and Izu Islands (McLaughlin and Haig, 1989; Nomura et al., 1996; Kato and Okuno, 2001); occurring to 24 m.

Remarks. This species is immediately distinguished from the other members of Pylopaguropsis Alcock, 1905 by the palm of the right cheliped, fringed with spines and long setae marginally (McLaughlin and Haig, 1989). The colour photograph shown as Pylopaguropsis zebra by Minemizu (2000) can be identified as P. fimbriata , instead, considering the morphology of the right cheliped and the coloration (see Asakura, 2000: 103, figure 19D).