Leptograpsus bertheloti H. Milne Edwards, 1853

Ng, Ngan Kee, Rodríguez Moreno, Paula A., Naruse, Tohru, Guinot, Danièle & Mollaret, Noémy, 2019, Annotated type-catalogue of Brachyura (Crustacea, Decapoda) of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. Part II. Gecarcinidae and Grapsidae (Thoracotremata, Grapsoidea), with an Appendix of pre- 1900 collectors, Zoosystema 41 (7), pp. 91-130 : 112

Leptograpsus bertheloti H. Milne Edwards, 1853

( Fig. 6B )

Leptograpsus Bertheloti H. Milne Edwards, 1853: 138 [172].

CURRENT TAXONOMIC STATUS. — Junior subjective synonym of Pachygrapsus marmoratus ( Fabricius, 1787) .

LECTOTYPE (by present designation). — MNHN-IU-2000-10944 (= MNHN-B10944 ), ♀ 38.0 × 43.2 mm, Canary Islands, coll. MM. Webb & Berthelot. — Original label: “ Leptograpsus Bertheloti M. Edw. , MM. Webb et Berthelot, Iles Canaries ”.

PRESERVATION. — Dry.

REMARKS

Alphonse Milne-Edwards & Bouvier (1894: 48) wrote under Leptograpsus marmoratus : “Ce Crabe, que l’on trouve communément sur les côtes océaniques de la France, semble avoir une large dissémination géographique, il se trouve à Madère, aux îles Canaries, et nous avons lieu de penser qu’il ne diffère pas spécifiquement des formes décrites sous les noms de Leptograpsus variegatus Fabricius et de L. Bertheloti H. Milne Edwards. ” [“This crab, commonly found on the oceanic coasts of France, seems to have a widespread geographical distribution, it is found in Madeira, the Canary Islands, and there may be reason to believe that it does not differ specifically from the forms described under the names Leptograpsus variegatus Fabricius and L. Bertheloti H. Milne Edwards ”].

Kingsley (1880: 196) placed many species in the synonymy of L. variegatus including L. bertheloti , but Griffin (1973: 423), who also gave a long list of synonyms, did not recognise L. bertheloti as a synonym of L. variegatus [considering instead a possible synonymy with Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Fabricius) ], both without giving an explanation of their statements. Rathbun (1918: 250) and Ng et al. (2008: 217) placed Leptograpsus bertheloti , with reservation, in the synonymy of Pachygrapsus marmoratus , a species found in the Mediterranean Sea and on the Atlantic coast of Europe, from Britanny to Morocco, including Madeira, the Azores, and the Canary Islands ( Manning & Holthuis 1981: 225; d’Udekem d’Acoz 1989: 255).

Our examination of the specimen MNHN-IU-2000-10944 (= MNHN-B10944) has confirmed that Leptograpsus bertheloti is indeed Pachygrapsus marmoratus , and not Leptograpsus variegatus (Fabricius, 1793) as stated by Kingsley (1980). Recent publication on the phylogeography of Pachygrapsus marmoratus from the African Mediterranean coast ( Deli et al. 2016) has revealed a genetic homogeneity across the Siculo-Tunisian Strait.

Figures

FIG. 6. — A, Leptograpsus ansoni H. Milne Edwards, 1853, MNHN-IU-2000-4023 (= MNHN-B4023), lectotype, ♂; B, Leptograpsus bertheloti H. Milne Edwards, 1853,MNHN-IU-2000-10944 (= MNHN-B10944),lectotype, ♀; C, Leptograpsus gayi H. Milne Edwards, 1853, MNHN-IU-2000-3531 (= MNHN-B3531), lectotype, ♂; D, Leptograpsus rugulosus H. Milne Edwards,1853,MNHN-IU-2000-3534 (= MNHN-B3534),lectotype, ♂; E, Leptograpsus verreauxi H. Milne Edwards,1853, MNHN-IU-2000-4024 (= MNHN-B4024), lectotype, ♂; F, Metopograpsus eydouxi H. Milne Edwards, 1853, MNHN-IU-2000-3547 (= MNHN-B3547), lectotype, ♂. Scale bars: A, D, F, 10 mm; B, C, E, 2 cm.