Decapoda - Brachyura - Grapsidae - Planes

Planes minutus (Linnaeus, 1758)


World Distribution
Chace (1951 : 80, fig. 8) - Atlantic. Records in Indian Ocean are probably P. cyaneus (= P. major) but were not examined. ?Réunion.

Environnement : Marine - Substrat/Association : Pelagic or bathypelagic

Vertical range : Pelagic or bathypelagic - Min-Max observed: 0-5 m

Réunion data
Nautilograpsus minutus - A. Milne-Edwards, 1862, annexe F : 6 (Réunion, coll. Maillard). - Planes minutus - Ng et al., 2008 : 217 (Synonymie).

Lesser Antilles data
Distribution: VGI (St Thomas), ICA (Anguilla). Pelagic (floating objects). Pantropical.
Nautilograpsus minutus - Miers, 1886: 254, Anguilla (off Sombrero) [R/V Challenger, st. 23, 'a small female', probably from sea surface]
Planes minutus - Rathbun, 1918: 253, 256, St Thomas. - Rathbun, 1933: 89, St Thomas. - Chace, 1951: 86, tab. 4, St Thomas.

French Guiana and surroundings areas: Guiana, Suriname, Brazil (Amapà)
Nautilograpsus minutus – Kingsley, 1880: 202, Suriname. — Young, 1900: 287, Suriname. Nautilograpsus minutus (Linnaeus, 1758) accepted as Planes minutus (Linnaeus, 1758) in WoRMS (August, 2023).
Planes minutus – Holthuis, 1959a: 240, Suriname.
Distribution/Habitat – ATL; Pelagic and shoreline.

Comment(s) on data
P. minutus and P. major are potential synonyms, cf. Pfaller et al. (2019: 968; Ecology and Evolution): Our mtDNA and RADseq analyses did not support the species?level distinction between Pl. minutus and Pl. major. The highly subtle and overlapping morphological traits that were used to separate Pl. minutus (only North Atlantic) and Pl. major (worldwide, except North Atlantic) may simply be related to geographic variation in body size and concomitant allometric changes in traits related to limb length (as in Chace, 1951), or regional variation or phenotypic plasticity in traits related to masticatory structures (as in Frick, Kopitsky, Bolten, Bjorndal, & Martins, 2011).
Pfaller et al. (2019) also indicate (supporting information) that 'P. minutus/major species' can hybridizes with P. marinus in the North Atlantic

References : PDF list, 214 pp (1.4 Mo)

This species in Worms Database