Decapoda - Brachyura - Leucosiidae - Speloeophorus

Speloeophorus pontifer (Stimpson, 1871)


World Distribution
Felder et al. (2009) - Western Atlantic - 1-229 m. NCar–GMx, Antil–Barb - Guadeloupe.

Environnement : Marine - Substrat/Association : Soft bottom (mud or sand)

Vertical range : Shallow to deep-waters (e.g. 10-190 m) - Min-Max observed: 1-229 m

Lesser Antilles data
Distribution: ICA (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbados), IOV (Margarita, Cubagua). 1-229 m. WA.
Ebalia fossa Desbonne, in Desbonne & Schramm, 1867: 55, Guadeloupe - Listed with hesitation (?) under Speloeophorus pontifer (Stimpson, 1871), see Comment.
Lithadia pontifera Stimpson, 1871: 115, Barbados [type locality].
Speloeophorus pontifer - Rathbun, 1933: 100, Barbados. - Rathbun, 1937: 144, pl. 39, fig. 1-3, ?Guadeloupe, Barbados. - Bolaños et al., 2000: 27, Margarita (Los Frailes). - Carré, 2005: 23, Martinique. - Felder et al., 2009: 1075, Barbados. - Lira et al., 2015: 156, Margarita, Cubagua.
Speloeophorus pontifer - Guadeloupe, Karubenthos 2012 (3-88 m), det. E. Macpherson, Besse 2013, MNHN-IU-2013-4607, st. GD57, 6 m, JL1375, photo; MNHN-IU-2013-5080, st. GS32, 2 m, JL1355, photo; as Speloeophorus ?pontifer (juveniles) or Lithadia ?granulosa, pre-det J. Poupin April 2014 (in loan for D. Felder; det. Felder May 2018, Lithadia/Speloeophorus?) - 1 sp., st. GD42, 3 m, MNHN-IU-2013-4753; 1 sp. 4.4x5.5 mm, st. GD59, 88 m, JL1377, MNHN-IU-2013-4793, photo labo; 3 spp. juv., st. GS13, 50 m, no JL, MNHN-IU-2013-4754.
Comment: Rathbun (1937) has tentatively listed Ebalia fossa Desbonne, 1867 under Lithadia pontifera Stimpson, 1871 with indication that the type of E. fossa is probably not extant. If this synonymy could be confirmed in the future the name of this crab should changed into Speloeophorus fossa (Desbonne, in Desbonne & Schramm, 1867). - 1 sp. Guadeloupe, st. GD42, 3 m, MNHN-IU-2013-4753, re-det. D. Felder (May 2018) as Lithadia cadaverosa.

Comment(s) on data
Photo of Speloeophorus ?pontifer (juveniles) MNHN-IU-2013-4793 has some resemblance with Lithadia ?granulosa (check specimen with type of L. granulosa, probably in Paris).

References : PDF list, 214 pp (1.4 Mo)

This species in Worms Database