Identity of Pagurus watasei (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Paguroidea)

Abstract

The diogenid hermit crab taxon Dardanus watasei (Terao, 1913) has been suggested to be a possible junior synonym of D. scutellatus (H. Milne Edwards, 1848). Re-examination of the holotype and three additional specimens referred to the taxon Pagurus watasei by Terao himself, however, has shown that it is conspecific with Dardanus aspersus (Berthold, 1845), and consequently Pagurus watasei is placed in the synonymy of the latter species.