Records of four species of the shallow water hermit crab genus Diogenes (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae) from southern China, with description of a new species

Abstract

Four species of the hermit crab genus Diogenes Dana, 1851, are reported from the coast of Guandong Province, China, including one new taxon: D. acanthochela sp. nov., D. deflectomanus Wang and Tung, 1980, D. paracristimanus Wang and Dong, 1977, and D. rectimanus Miers, 1884. Diogenes acanthochela sp. nov., referred to the D. edwardsii (De Haan, 1849) species group, is characteristic in the spinose left chela lacking distinct crest on the outer surface, the possession of one prominent spine on the ventromesial margin proximally on the merus of the left cheliped, and the propodus of the left third pereopod armed with additional rows of spinules on the lateral surface. Detailed descriptions are provided for D. deflectomanus and D. paracristimanus, and their diagnostic features are fully reassessed. These two species are also referred to the D. edwardsii group. The occurrence of D. rectimanus in Chinese waters is fully confirmed.

Keywords:

• Crustacea
• Decapoda
• Anomura
• Diogenidae
• Diogenes
• new species
• China

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Xinzhen Li (Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao), and Dwi Listyo Rahayu (Marine Bio-Industry Implementation Unit-Research Center for Oceanography, Indonesian Institute of Sciences [LIPI], Mataram) for critically reading the manuscript.