Decapoda - Brachyura - Mithracidae - Amphithrax

Amphithrax aculeatus (Herbst, 1790)



World Distribution
Felder et al. (2009, Checklist Gulf Mexico) - As M. pilosus - Western Atlantic. Florida Keys, Bahamas, Western Gulf Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, 1-5 m.

Environnement : Marine - Substrat/Association : Hard bottom (rock and rubbles)

Vertical range : Shallow-waters (0-100 m) - Min-Max observed: 1-5 m

Lesser Antilles data
Distribution: VGI (St Thomas), ICA (St Martin, St Barthélemy, Antigua, Guadeloupe, ?Martinique, Barbados), IOV (Margarita, Tortuga, Los Roques, Curaçao, Aruba). 1-5 m. WA.
Mithrax aculeatus - Stimpson, 1860: 188, St Thomas. - H. Milne Edwards, 1834-1840: 321, Habite les Antilles. - Desbonne, in Desbonne & Schramm, 1867: 5, Guadeloupe [les côtes rocheuses des environs du Moule et du Gosier]. - A. Milne-Edwards, 1873-1880: 102, St Thomas, Guadeloupe, Barbados [… commune à la Guadeloupe … Barbades, St Thomas …] - Following synonymy in Wagner (1990) but see comments for status of M. aculeatus (Herbst, 1790).
Mithrax (Mithrax) pilosus - Rathbun, 1925: 394, pl. 138, fig. 3, pl. 258, St Thomas, St Barthélemy, Guadeloupe, Barbados. - Chace, 1956: 160, Los Roques [Juvenile, with a ?].
Mithrax pilosus - Nobili, 1898: 1, St Thomas [coll. Duchassaing]. - Rathbun, 1921: 83, Antigua, Barbados [Barbados-Antigua Expedition 1918]. - Wagner, 1990: 25, pl. 28-31, St Thomas, St Martin/Maarten, Guadeloupe (La Désirade), Curaçao, Aruba. - Lira, 2004: tab. 1, Tortuga. - Lira et al., 2013: tab. 1, Margarita, Los Roques, Tortuga. - Carmona-Suárez & Poupin, 2016: 373, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Karubenthos 2012, 3 males MNHN-IU-2013-13082 (lot JL355-3; first identification as M. aculeatus), st. GM07, 1 m; 1 sp. MNHN-IU-2013-4423 (lot JL282 first identification as ‘Nemausa acuticornis’), 1 male MNHN-IU-2013-6732 (lot JL1039 first identification as ‘Nemausa acuticornis’), st. GM06, 1 m; 1 male MNHN-IU-2013-4802 (lot JL30, first identification as ‘Mithrax hispidus’), st. GM02, 1 m; 1 male MNHN-IU-2013-5929 (JL21; first identification as ‘Mithrax verrucosus’), st. GM02, 1 m; first identification as ‘Mithrax sp.’: 2 juv. MNHN-IU-2013-4464 (lot JL1426-6; in loan with D. Felder, April 2014), st. GB32, 4 m; 3 spp. MNHN-IU-2013-6623 (lot JL547-1; in loan with D. Felder, April 2014), 1 female 14.7 x 14.7 mm MNHN-IU-2013-6624 (lot JL547-2; in loan with D. Felder, April 2014) [Corrections based on verification of photographs during the final writing of this work; all these specimens belong to a unique species which is most probably M. pilosus; specimens MNHN 4464, 6623, and 6624, labeled as ‘M. aculeatus’ have been sent (April 2014) to D. Felder for further study, including DNA analysis; det. D. Felder, May 2018 (com. pers.) as A. aculeatus]
Mithrax aculeatus/pilosus - Martinique, photo in situ Y. Buske, det. J. Poupin.
Amphithrax aculeatus - Questel, 2019: 16, St Barthélemy.
Comment: In Ng et al. (2008) Mithrax pilosus Rathbun, 1892 is a synonym of M. aculeatus (Herbst, 1790). However the identity of Herbst’ species is not very clear and M. pilosus was considered as perhaps valid in Carmona-Suárez & Poupin, (2016). To simplify, the opinion of Ng et al. (2008) is followed herein. Genus Amphithrax is from ‘Corrigendum’ by Windsor & Felder (2017).

Amphithrax aculeatus — Parasram et al., 2023 (Zootaxa): 20, Barbados
Amphithrax verrucosus — Parasram et al., 2024 (Zoosystematics and Evolution): 20, St Croix, Virgin Is., Guadeloupe, Barbados.

Comment(s) on data
Mithrax pilosus Rathbun, 1892 is a synonym of M. aculeatus in WoRMS (from Ng et al., 2008) while M. aculeatus (Herbst) is listed under M. pilosus in Wagner (1990), followed by Felder et al. (2009).
Few spines are present on upper border of chela in this species.
Several specimens from Guadeloupe, Karubenthos 2012, attributed herein to M. pilosus, are in loan with D. Felder for DNA sequencing.

References : PDF list, 214 pp (1.4 Mo)

This species in Worms Database