Cryptosoma balguerii (Galil and Clark, 1996)

Cryptosoma balguerii View in CoL (Desbonne in Desbonne and Schramm, 1867)

( Fig. 2 View Figure 2 )

Mursia balguerii Desbonne in Desbonne and Schramm, 1867: 52, pl. IV, fig. 20.

Material examined. 1 ♀ (CL 31.57 mm; CW 34.00 mm), CCDB 6417 View Materials , Brazil, São Paulo, Ubatuba , offshore, 23°27’43.21”S and 45°00’9.59”W colls. D. Rosa and F. Zara, 23.x.2019 GoogleMaps .

Description. Carapace slightly wider than long, regularly convex, surface densely granulate; branchial ridges bearing prominent tubercles diminishing in size posteriorly. Front with two teeth with subtriangular median sinus. Anterolateral margin slightly scalloped, irregularly granulate, denticulated. Lateral spine short and slightly curved. Merus of cheliped with two teeth, distal tooth keel-like, proximal tooth bluntly triangular. Upper margin of chela with two bicuspidate proximal lobes; external surface of chela coarsely granulate, separated by rows of granules; medially a granulate line, proximal-most granule most prominent. Upper palm face with prominent teeth. Dactylar stridulating band with transverse ridges. Fourth pair of pereopods flatter than the others. (modified from Galil and Clark, 1996; Melo 1996).

Color pattern. The carapace is whitish with many small bright red or crimson spots, especially anteriorly, spines and tubercles white. Chelipeds whitish, spotted and banded with bright scarlet red; inside white with large dark red spot at distal end of manus; tips of digits and teeth of the dorsal crest of manus white; carpus with two red spots. Pereopods whitish with bright yellow dactylus, with bands of red and purple, and purplish red margins on the merus ( Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ).

Distribution. Western Atlantic – USA (North Carolina, Florida), Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil (Fernando de Noronha Islands, Amapá, Pará, Maranhão, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo) ( Coelho and Ramos, 1972; Galil and Clark, 1996; Melo and Veloso, 2005; Coelho Filho, 2006; Serejo et al., 2006; Almeida and Coelho, 2008; present study).

Habitat. Rocky bottom, sand, mud, coral fragments and shell gravel ( Melo and Veloso, 2005) in shallow waters less than 54 m ( Galil and Clark, 1996; Bellwood, 1998; Coelho Filho, 2006).

Remarks. As far as we know, this is the first time that Cr. balguerii is reported in the State of São Paulo and confirmed by morphological and molecular data. It can be identified by the presence of a row of granules on the anterior-most sternal plate, which is considered the autapomorphy of the genus ( Bellwood, 1998). It is a new name attributed to the western Atlantic records of Cycloes bairdii Stimpson, 1860 , a species found along the Brazilian coast ( Galil and Clark, 1996). Previously reported to Brazilian coast as Cr. bairdii was noted by Coelho and Ramos (1972), Melo (1996) and Barros and Pimentel (2001). Sequences accession number (GenBank): CCDB 6417 - COI (MN241497) and 16S (MN239506).