Decapoda - Brachyura - Xanthidae - Xanthias
| Xanthias maculatus aff. Sakai, 1961 |
World Distribution
Serène (1984 : 198). Japon seulement pour la forme type à Afrique orientale, Kenya, si la forme attribuée à 'Xanthias aff. maculatus' correspond à l'espèce de Sakai. Comprend Mayotte premier signalement.
15-85 m in Sakai, Japan.
Environnement : Marine - Substrat/Association : Hard bottom (rock and rubbles)
Vertical range : Shallow-waters (0-100 m) - Min-Max observed: 0-30 m
Mayotte data
Xanthias maculatus sensu lato – Poupin et al. 2018: 65 (in part) - Mayotte, 15-30 m - At least 1 femelle 5,9x8,7 mm, 1? 5.9×8.7 mm, MNHN-IU-2009-2634 (perhaps X. ?latifrons, cf. Mendoza 2023).
Xanthias sp. related to X. latifrons - Mendoza, 2023, Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos: 182 - Mayotte : the other female that was figured (Poupin et al. 2018: fig. 18C, D; MNHN-IU-2009-2634), has 2 longitudinal grooves on the palm of the chela and, furthermore the fingers are also quite deeply grooved. These are not typical of either X. maculatus or X. joanneae, and so I have reason to suspect that it may be a different species of Xanthias altogether, perhaps identical or related to X. latifrons, a similar species which has also been reported from the western Indian Ocean (Serène 1984).
Comment(s) on data
Older comments
Mendoza (2013: 374, Zootaxa) has recently described Xanthias joanneae, a species very similar to X. maculatus. By the presence of lateral ridges on outer face of chelae, our specimens from Mayotte are related to Xanthias maculatus while by the number of spots (about 30) on dorsal face of the carapace they are closer to X. joanneae. Although the Mayotte specimens are kept here under X. maculatus, It is possible that they are conspecific with Xanthias aff. Maculatus from Kenya in Serène (1984) with this comment by Mendoza (2013: 383) - It is very likely that the Kenyan specimens comprise a distinct species from either X. maculatus or X. joanneae sp. Nov. -
References : PDF list, 214 pp (1.4 Mo)This species in Worms Database