Decapoda - Brachyura - Inachoididae - Euprognatha

Euprognatha acuta A. Milne-Edwards, 1880



World Distribution
Rathbun (1925: 97) - Southern form of E. rastellifera, Havana, Porto Rico, Caribbean Islands to Grenada Barbados, 15-387 fathoms (27-707 m).
Melo (1996: 204) - Massachusetts, Florida, Gulf Mexico, Antillas, Guianas, Brazil.
Brazil (from AP to RS), and Uruguay

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

Vertical range : Shallow to deep-waters (e.g. 10-190 m) - Min-Max observed: 27-707 m

Lesser Antilles data
Distribution: ICA (St Kitts, Martinique, St Vincent, Barbados, Grenada). 27-707 m. WA.
Euprognatha acuta A. Milne-Edwards, 1880a: 7, St Kitts, St Vincent (Grenadines), Grenada [R/V Blake, 84-208 brasses]. - A. Milne-Edwards, 1873-1880: 348, St Kitts, St Vincent, Barbados [R/V Blake, 84-208 brasses]. - A. Milne-Edwards & Bouvier, 1923: 376, St Kitts, St Vincent, Grenadines, Barbados [R/V Blake, st. 148, 211, 269, 296, 84-206 brasses]. - Santana & Tavares, 2008: 318, Martinique, St Vincent, Barbados [Treated as synonym of E. rastellifera; Martinique, coll. IFREMER-IGMAR 3].
Euprognatha rastellifera acuta - Rathbun, 1925: 96, pl. 33, pl. 34, fig. 1-2, pl. 35, fig. 3-4, pl. 216, St Kitts, Martinique, Barbados, Grenada.
Comment: See Felder et al. (2009) for questionable specific status of this species. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of E. rastellifera, together with E. marthae (E. rastelliferea acuta and E. rastellifera marthae). It is suggested that E. ratellifera is a unique polymorphic species.

Comment(s) on data
Rathbun (1925: 97) - The most southern form [of Euprognatha rastellifera] (Havana, Porto Rico) has longer, slenderer and sharper spines; surface of carapace more closely and tinely roughened; spines bordering the merus of the chelipeds well developed; legs more spinulous; carapace a little narrower and higher and the regions more deeply separated than in more northern forms. This form is E. rastellifera acuta.
WoRMS list E. acuta as valid whereas Felder et al. (2009) only indicate E. rastellifera, without distinction between the two forms indicated in Rathbun (1925) (E. rastellifera marthae and E. rastellifera acuta) with this comment 'Both Williams (1984b) and Soto (1986) discuss difficulties in separating apparently sympatric subspecies of this taxon'
Williams (1984: 298) - Rathbun pointed out that there is considerable overlap in distribution of these subspecies, listing acuta as far north as Martha's Vineyard. Subspecific intergradation over such a borad range of latitude in this region of the western Atlantic seems unlikely. Rather, the variation may parallel that seen in Callinectes sapidus which is apparently a polymorphic species, responding perhaps to temperature by developing spines of longer mean length in tropical than in temperate waters.

References : PDF list, 214 pp (1.4 Mo)

This species in Worms Database