New collections of freshwater crabs from northern Madagascar, with the description of a new species of Foza Reed & Cumberlidge, 2006 (Brachyura, Potamonautidae), and comments on their conservation status

Authors

  • Neil Cumberlidge Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan 49855-5301
  • Sebastian Klaus Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, J.W. Goethe-University, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438 Frankfurt am Main
  • Kirstin S. Meyer Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon, P.O. Box 5389, Charleston, Oregon 97420
  • Jennifer C. Koppin Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan 49855-5301

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2015.109

Keywords:

Crustacea, taxonomy, Foza, new species, Madagascar, conservation

Abstract

We report here on recent collections of freshwater crabs from Antsiranana Province, northern Madagascar. The specimens belong to three species, one of which is new to science and is described here. This raises the number of species of freshwater crabs found in Madagascar to 17. All are endemic to the island and all belong to the Afrotropical family Potamonautidae Bott, 1970. The new species, Foza manonae sp. nov., is compared to other species in this genus, and an updated key is provided. It is distinguished from the other three congeners by characters of the male first gonopod, sternum, carapace, and cheliped. The conservation status of the Malagasy freshwater crab fauna is summarized and discussed in light of the new material reported on here belonging to two other species, Madagapotamon humberti Bott, 1965 and Foza ambohitra Cumberlidge & Meyer, 2009.

References

Bahir M.M., Ng P.K.L., Crandall K. & Pethiyagoda R. 2005. A conservation assessment of the freshwater crabs of Sri Lanka. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. 12: 121–126.

Bott R. 1960. Crustacea (Decapoda): Potamonidae. In: Hanstrom B., Brinck P. & Ruderbeck G. (eds) South African Animal Life: Results of the Lund University Expedition in 1950–1951, vol. 7: 13–18. Almqvist & Wiksells, Uppsala.

Bott R. 1965. Die Süßwasserkrabben von Madagaskar. Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle 37 (2): 335–350.

Cumberlidge N. 1999. The Freshwater Crabs of West Africa, Family Potamonautidae. Faune et Flore Tropicales 35, IRD, Paris, pp. 1–382.

Cumberlidge N. 2008a. Madagapotamon humberti. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded 13 May 2014.

Cumberlidge N. 2008b. Boreas uglowi. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded 13 May 2014.

Cumberlidge N. 2014. An overview of the Afrotropical freshwater crab fauna: Diversity, biogeography, and conservation (Brachyura, Potamoidea, Potamonautidae and Potamidae). In: Yeo D., Cumberlidge N. & Klaus S. (eds.) Crustaceana Monographs: Advances in Freshwater Decapod Systematics and Biology: 71-99. Koninklijke Brill, The Netherlands. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004207615_006

Cumberlidge N. & Meyer K.S. 2009. A new species of Foza Reed & Cumberlidge, 2006, from northern Madagascar (Decapoda, Brachyura, Potamoidea, Potamonautidae), with a redescription of F. goudoti (H. Milne Edwards, 1853) comb. n., and comments on Skelosophusa prolixa Ng & Takeda, 1994. ZooKeys 18: 77–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.18.102

Cumberlidge N. & Sternberg R. 2002. The freshwater crabs of Madagascar (Crustacea, Decapoda, Potamoidea). Zoosystema 24: 41–79.

Cumberlidge N., Boyko C.B. & Harvey A.W. 2002. A new genus and species of freshwater crab (Decapoda, Crustacea, Potamoidea) from northern Madagascar, and a second new species associated with Pandanus leaf axils. Journal of Natural History 36: 65–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222930010003800

Cumberlidge N., Reed S.K. & Boyko C.B. 2004. Distribution patterns of the Malagasy freshwater crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Journal of Natural History 38: 1133–1157. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0022293031000068419

Cumberlidge N., Fenolio D.B., Walvoord M.E. & Stout J. 2005. Tree-climbing crabs (Potamonautidae and Sesarmidae) from phytotelmic microhabitats in rainforest canopy in Madagascar. Journal of Crustacean Biology 25: 302–308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1651/C-2532

Cumberlidge N., Marijnissen S.A.E. & Thompson J. 2007. Hydrothelphusa vencesi, a new species of freshwater crab (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae) from southeastern Madagascar. Zootaxa 1524: 61–68.

Cumberlidge N., Ng P.K.L., Yeo D.C.J., Magalhaes C., Campos M.R., Alvarez F., Naruse T., Daniels S.R., Esser L.J., Attipoe F.Y.K., Clotilde-Ba F-L., Darwall W.R.T., McIvor A., Ram M. & Collen B. 2009. Freshwater crabs and the biodiversity crisis: importance, threats, status, and conservation challenges. Biological Conservation 142: 1665–1673. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.038

Meyer K.S., Cumberlidge N. & Koppin J.C. 2014. A new genus and species of freshwater crab from Madagascar (Decapoda, Brachyura, Potamoidea, Potamonautidae). Zootaxa 3884: 65–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3884.1.5

Ng P.K.L. & Takeda M. 1994. Skelosophusa (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura), a new genus of potamonautid freshwater crab from Madagascar, with descriptions of two new species. Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Series A (Zoology) 20: 161–172.

Ng P.K.L., Guinot D. & Davie P. 2008. Systema Brachyuorum: Part I. An annotated checklist of extant brachyuran crabs of the world. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. 17: 1–286.

Reed S.K. & Cumberlidge N. 2006. Foza raimundi, a new genus and species of potamonautid freshwater crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Potamoidea) from northern Madagascar. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 119: 58–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.2988/0006-324X(2006)119%5B58:FRANGA%5D2.0.CO;2

Sternberg R. & Cumberlidge N. 2001. Notes on the position of the true freshwater crabs within the brachyrhynchan Eubrachyura (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). Hydrobiologia 449: 21–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1017560113027

Vuillemin S. 1970. Observations écologiques et biologiques sur Madagapotamon humberti Bott, 1965 (Crustacé, Décapode, Potamonidé) du massif de l’Ankarana (Madagascar). Annales de l’Université de Madagascar 7: 245–266.

Downloads

Published

2015-01-15

How to Cite

Cumberlidge, N., Klaus, S., Meyer, K. S., & Koppin, J. C. (2015). New collections of freshwater crabs from northern Madagascar, with the description of a new species of Foza Reed & Cumberlidge, 2006 (Brachyura, Potamonautidae), and comments on their conservation status. European Journal of Taxonomy, (109). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2015.109

Issue

No. 109 (2015): New collections of freshwater crabs from northern Madagascar, with the description of a new species of Foza Reed & Cumberlidge, 2006 (Brachyura, Potamonautidae), and comments on their conservation status

Section

Zoology

License

Creative Commons Copyright Notices

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are NOT ALLOWED TO post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to taxonomic issues.