Revision of the Indo-West Pacific crab genus Soliella (Brachyura: Xanthidae: Etisinae): ‘pseudocryptic species’ and basinal speciation

Abstract

Etisine crabs are some of the most abundant cryptobionts in Indo-West Pacific coral reef systems. Despite their ecological importance and abundance in museum collections, several recent systematic studies have indicated family- to subspecies-level taxonomic problems. One such case involves the former chlorodielline genus Soliella Lasley, Klaus & Ng, 2015 (treated here as part of Etisinae), which currently comprises two valid species and three available names that have been in flux in recent literature. The validity of these taxa has only been cursorily discussed. To resolve species limits and distributions, a thorough morphological examination of hundreds of specimens was conducted, including scanning electron microscopy of male gonopods, along with analysis of sequence data of the mitochondrial marker cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) from 84 exemplars across the distribution of the genus. The status of two species that have Indian Ocean versus Pacific Ocean distributions with overlap in the Indo-Australian Archipelago and adjacent regions is confirmed. While external morphology is not reliable for identification, a few discrete, although slight, differences in gonopod morphology were found, and these results are consistent with a ‘pseudocryptic species’ designation. Speciation conforms to a previously published etisine model of allopatric differentiation followed by subsequent divergence of gonopod morphology upon secondary sympatry. This pattern, the biogeography of the two species and the concept of ‘pseudocryptic species’ are discussed.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:ABEC01C7-EA5B-4BB6-87E0-405FE3895D95

Key words:

• Chlorodiellinae
• coral reef
• Crustacea
• Decapoda
• Pilodius
• systematics
• taxonomy
• Xanthoidea

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to numerous people who have aided in sequencing and other lab work, and the many more people who have helped in the field or provided specimens. We also thank Mandy Bemis and John Slapcinsky (UF) for their efforts in curation. We thank Peter Ng for his taxonomic expertise and input, which have been invaluable in unravelling chlorodielline systematics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2023.2249896.

Associate Editor: Dr Polly Hayes

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [NSF DEB 1856245, GECCO 1457769], the Moore Foundation [Moorea BioCode], and the Sloan Foundation [MarBOL].