Varuninae H. Milne Edwards, 1853

Subfamily Varuninae H. Milne Edwards, 1853 View in CoL

Eriocheir hepuensis Dai, 1991 View in CoL #

Eriocheir hepuensis View in CoL — Wong et al. 2021: 64, fig. 99, pl. 19A.

Taxonomy: Guo et al. (1997), Naser et al. (2012).

Type: Holotype ò AS GX899024A in IZCAS ( Guo et al. 1997).

Type locality: Hepu, Guangxi, China.

Distribution: South China from Guangxi to Fujian ( Guo et al. 1997) and northern Vietnam ( Clark et al. 2023); exotic species in Persian/Arabian Gulf ( Naser et al. 2012; Naderloo 2014 2017).

Habitat: Freshwater to estuarine shallow seas, catadromous.

Remarks: Two female specimens morphologically identifiable as E. hepuensis Dai, 1991 were collected from the local western estuarine waters ( Wong et al. 2021). See also Remarks under E. japonica below.

Eriocheir japonica (De Haan, 1835) #

Eriocheir japonicus View in CoL — Gordon 1931: 528; Shen 1940a: 237; Dudgeon 1999: 178, fig. 4.21A; Dudgeon 2003: 60, 3 unnumb. figs.

? Eriocheir sinensis View in CoL — Hill et al. 1975: 48; Hill et al. 1978: 67; Morton 1979a: 121; Morton 1979b: tab. 7.1, fig. 7.5b; Hill and Phillipps 1981: 146, pl. 49f; Morton and Morton 1983: 214, fig. 11.4(2).

Eriocheir japonica View in CoL — T-Y Chan et al. 1995: 302, figs. 1A, 2C, 3C; Guo et al. 1997: 460, figs. 5, 6c, 6f, 7c; Yam et al. 2002: 18; Wong et al. 2021: 65, fig. 100, pl. 19B.

Taxonomy: T-Y Chan et al. (1995), Guo et al. (1997), Naser et al. (2012), Ng et al. (2017a).

Ty p e: L e c t o t y p e ò M N H N 3 3 8 2, a n d paralectotypes in RMNH, NHM, NHMD and MNHN (designated by Yamaguchi and Baba 1993; see also Fransen et al. 1997; Guo et al. 1997).

Type locality: Japan, locality unspecified.

Distribution: East Asia: South China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

Habitat: Freshwater to estuarine shallow seas, catadromous; often submerged, on substrates of rock fragments, covered with foliage or aquatic vegetation.

Remarks: The taxonomic understanding of Eriocheir species from South China shows some disagreement between morphological and molecular identification approaches. The present taxon from Hong Kong, which is not uncommon in local fresh water, intertidal and shallow marine habitats, is morphologically clearly identifiable as E. japonica (De Haan, 1835) (cf. Guo et al. 1997). The available genetic data, however, suggests individuals from South China (including Hong Kong and Macau) form a clade associated with E. hepuensis Dai, 1991 (cf. Naser et al. 2012). This matter was recently elaborated in detail by Ng et al. (2017a), and we report the local material as E. japonica , separate from the morphologically distinct E. hepuensis treated above.