Coenobita rugosus H. Milne Edwards, 1837

Coenobita rugosus H. Milne Edwards, 1837 View in CoL

( Figs. 3A‒C View Figure 3 , 4A View Figure 4 )

Habitat. Upper intertidal, sandy beach with gravel, dead coral, and leaf litter and vegetation.

Distribution. Wide distribution in the Indo-West Pacific, from the East coast of Africa to Tuamotu archipelago. Indonesia: Sulawesi and Maluku.

Remarks. Coenobita rugosus was recorded from most of the islands in Maluku but not to date from Halmahera (see Buitendijk, 1937; Haig and Ball, 1988). The presence of stridulatory apparatus on the left cheliped palm, and the shield and cheliped whitish brown with streaks of dark brown or reddish brown ( Figs. 3A View Figure 3 , 4A View Figure 4 ) easily separate this species from most of its congeners. Differences with C. pseudorugosus are discussed under the species below. Compared to the specimen examined by Nakasone (1988), which has the right male sexual tube slightly more slender than the left, the specimens of this study have the right and left male sexual tube approximately similar ( Nakasone, 1988: fig. 2G; Fig. 3C View Figure 3 in this study). This may be due to the fact that the specimens in this study are smaller than those examined by Nakasone (1988) and the sexual tube is not fully developed yet.