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A reappraisal of the family Goneplacidae MacLeay, 1838 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura) and revision of the subfamily Goneplacinae, with the description of 10 new genera and 18 new species

Peter CASTRO

en Zoosystema 29 (4) - Pages 609-774

Published on 28 December 2007

A reappraisal of the taxonomy of the brachyuran crabs belonging to the family Goneplacidae MacLeay, 1838 sensu lato has resulted in the revision of the subfamily Goneplacinae, which combines the subfamilies Goneplacinae MacLeay, 1838 and Carcinoplacinae H. Milne Edwards, 1852. Most of the 66 species of Goneplacinae sensu stricto that are listed herein inhabit relatively deep water and are infrequently collected. The subfamily Goneplacinae sensu stricto now consists of 17 genera of which 10 are being described as new: Carcinoplax H. Milne Edwards, 1852, with 18 species of which four are new; Entricoplax n. gen., monotypic; Exopheticus n. gen., with two species; Goneplacoides n. gen., monotypic; Goneplax Leach, 1814, with four species; Hadroplax n. gen., monotypic; Menoplax n. gen., monotypic; Microgoneplax n. gen., with five species of which four are new; Neogoneplax n. gen., with three species of which two are new; Neommatocarcinus Takeda & Miyake, 1969, monotypic; Notonyx A. Milne-Edwards, 1873, with three species; Ommatocarcinus White, 1852, with four species; Paragoneplax n. gen., monotypic; Psopheticus Wood-Mason, 1892, with four species; Pycnoplax n. gen., with five species of which one is new; Singhaplax Serène & Soh, 1976, with seven species of which four are new; and Thyraplax n. gen., with five species of which three are new. All goneplacine genera are exclusive to the Indo-West Pacific region (plus contiguous temperate areas) except Goneplax, which is so far known mostly from the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions. Four nominal species described by other authors were found to be junior subjective synonyms for other species: Carcinoplax verdensis Rathbun, 1914 and C. polita Guinot, 1989 synonymous of C. specularis Rathbun, 1914; Goneplax megalops Komatsu & Takeda, 2003 of Goneplacoides marivenae (Komatsu & Takeda, 2003) n. comb.; and Psopheticus insolitus Guinot, 1990 of P. stridulans Wood-Mason, 1892.


Keywords:

Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Goneplacidae, Goneplacinae, Carcinoplacinae, revision, new genera, new species.

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