A New Kelp Crab Species of the Genus Pugettia (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Epialtidae) from Shandong Peninsula, Northeast China

Abstract

A new kelp crab species of the genus Pugettia Dana, 1851 from Shandong Peninsula, north China is described and illustrated. Pugettia longipes n. sp. resembles P. ferox Ohtsuchi and Kawamura, 2019 and P. quadridens (De Haan, 1837), but can be distinguished by many morphological and morphometric characters. These include the shape of the basal antennal article, shorter cheliped merus, longer ambulatory legs (first legs longer than chelipeds in merus length), the structure of male first gonopod, and the different ontogenetic patterns of changes in the male chelae. A taxonomic key to all the upper subtidal species of Pugettia distributed in East Asian waters and P. longipes n. sp. is also provided.