Tetralia glaberrima (Herbst, 1790)

Tetralia glaberrima (Herbst, 1790) View in CoL

Tetralia glaberrima View in CoL — Stimpson 1858a: 35; Stimpson 1907: 74; Gee 1926: 163 [list]; Shen 1940a: 228 [no new specimens].

Taxonomy: Galil (1988: as T. fulva View in CoL ), Castro (1997: as T. fulva View in CoL ), Castro et al. (2004).

Type: Neotype ò MNHN-B 25234 (designated by Castro et al. 2004).

Type locality: Heron Island, Queensland, Australia (neotype).

Distribution: Western Indian Ocean to Central Pacific: across the Indo-Pacific except the Hawaiian Islands ( Castro et al. 2004; Castro 2011).

Habitat: Intertidal and subtidal; obligate to branching Acropora corals (Galil 1988; Trautwein 2007).

Remarks: Live color patterns are important characters in species identifications in many trapeziid crabs. Stimpson’s (1907) description of this coralobligate species as “pale yellowish, or flesh-color. Eyes dark”, from “in crevices among madrepores taken below low-water mark in a bay on the east side of Hongkong Island ” (see also his citation of Dana 1855: pl. 16(3) indicates that his record is probably what is today T. glaberrima (see live coloration by Castro (1997) as T. fulva ; also Castro et al. 2004). This name, however, had long been applied to represent multiple forms ( Ortmann 1897a; Patton 1966; Galil 1988) and various new species with similar color patterns have also been recently identified from the West Pacific ( Trautwein 2007). We cannot verify the accuracy of Stimpson’s record; suffice to say we have not seen specimens referrable to this taxon from Hong Kong as yet.