Observations on some interesting coastal Crustacea Decapoda from the Azores, with a key to the genus Eualus Thallwitz, 1892 in the Northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean

• Main Authors: d'Udekem d'Acoz, C., Wirtz, P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: Marine crustaceans; New records; Crustacea [crustaceans]; Decapoda [decapods]; Eualus; AE; North Atlantic; ANE; Azores; MED; Hippolyte
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/263924.pdf

Records of several rare or interesting Crustacea Decapoda from the Azores are presented in the present paper. Periclimenes sagittifer and Athanas nitescens are recorded for the first time in the archipelago. Periclimenes sagittifer was found on various hydroids and the antipatharian Antipathes wollastoni some juveniles being also found amongst algae. Athanas nitescens was encountered free-living and in a shell inhabited by the hermit crab Dardanus calidus . Comparative illustrations are given for Azorean Periclimenes sagittifer and French specimens. New characters are proposed to distinguish Eualus cranchii , E. drachi , E. occultus and E. pusiolus , and a key to Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Eualus species is provided. Azorean specimens of Hippolyte varians prove to be especially small and slender, whilst Azorean Stenopus spinosus may have red, white or even proximally red and distally white antennae. The association between the hermit crab Nematopagurus longicornis and the antipatharian Antipathes wollastoni is recorded for the first time. A possibly undescribed Macropodia species is here recorded and illustrated as Macropodia sp., as only juvenile and damaged adult specimens were found. Azorean Portunus hastatus prove to be much less pubescent than their Mediterranean counterparts, and detailed drawings are given for this common but rarely comprehensively illustrated species.