Vol. 57, 2018

(update: 2018.09.26; 10.19) 

From an Old Eroded Carapace: rediscovery of the Majid Crab Leptomithrax sinensis Rathbun, 1916 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Majidae) from Taiwan and Japan

Kingsley J. H. Wong¹, Peter K. L. Ng², and Ming-Shiou Jeng^1,*

¹Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
²Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 2 Conservatory Drive, Singapore 117377, Republic of Singapore

(Received 9 August 2018; Accepted 16 September 2018; Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan)

Kingsley J. H. Wong, Peter K. L. Ng, and Ming-Shiou Jeng (2018) The majid crab Leptomithrax sinensis Rathbun, 1916 was previously only known from the holotype, a detached and partially eroded carapace collected during the Albatross Philippine Expedition in 1908 from the northern part of the South China Sea. Recent collections of fresh material from precious coral harvest sites off northeastern Taiwan, and Shikoku, Japan made verifying this poorly know species possible. The species is considered to be valid and is here redescribed, illustrated, and compared with its closest East Asian congener, L. bifidus (Ortmann, 1893).

Key words: Leptomithrax sinensis, spider crab, Majoidea, precious red coral, taxonomy, East Asia, Leptomithrax bifidus.

*Correspondence: E-mail: jengms@gate.sinica.edu.tw