The nomenclature and diagnostic characters of four north-eastern Atlantic species of the genus Munida Leach: M. rugosa (Fabricius), M. tenuimana G. O. Sars, M. intermedia A. Milne Edwards and Bouvier, and M. sarsi Huus (crustacea, Decapoda, Galatheidae)

Abstract

Within the genus Munida the names M. rugosa (Fabricius) and M. bamffia (Pennant) are at the centre of a long-standing and complex nomenclatural confusion. An examination of the literature and of extensive collections has permitted the confusion to be resolved and indicates that four species are involved, with overlapping but distinct geographical and bathymetric ranges within the northeastern Atlantic. Three of the species occur also in the Mediterranean and appear to be undergoing speciation, but the distinctions between the Atlantic and Mediterranean populations are not sufficiently distinct to warrant sub-specific recognition.