Open AccessThe fiddler crabs (Crustacea: Brachyura: Ocypodidae: genus Uca) of the South Atlantic Ocean
Author(s) -
Luís Ernesto Arruda Bezerra
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
nauplius
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2358-2936
pISSN - 0104-6497
DOI - 10.1590/s0104-64972012000200011
Subject(s) - ocypodidae , subgenus , biology , seta , fiddler crab , taxonomy (biology) , crustacean , zoology , ecology , genus , fishery , decapoda
The taxonomy of the 11 species of fiddler crabs [Uca (Uca) maracoani (Latreille, 1802-1803), U. (U.) tangeri (Eydoux, 1835), U. (Minuca) burgersi Holthuis, 1967, U. (M.) mordax (Smith, 1870), U. (M.) rapax (Smith, 1870), U. (M.) thayeri Rathbun, 1900, U. (M.) victoriana von Hagen, 1987, U. (M.) vocator (Herbst, 1804), U. (Leptuca) cumulanta Crane, 1943, U. (L.) leptodactyla Rathbun, 1898 and U. (L.) uruguayensis Nobili, 1901] of the South Atlantic Ocean is reviewed. Keys for identification, updating the keys for the Atlantic Ocean are proposed, including the species recently described. Comments reporting morphological variations among types and additional material and among populations of different localities are included. The Atlantic species are divided into three subgenera: Uca s. str., Minuca and Leptuca. The eastern Atlantic species U. (U.)tangeri is included in subgenus Uca s. str. due to the presence of a proximal spine opposing the spoon-tipped setae of the second maxilliped, which is considered an apomorphic character of the subgenus Uca s. str