Vol. 64, 2025

A New Genus of Freshwater Crab from the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae: Liberonautinae), with Keys to the Species and an Updated Key to the Liberonautine Genera

¹Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855-5376, USA. *Correspondence: E-mail: ncumberl@nmu.edu (Cumberlidge)
E-mail: bfitch@nmu.edu (Fitch)
²Département de Gestion des Écosystèmes Aquatiques, Institut des Sciences Halieutiques, Université de Douala à Yabassi, Douala-Bassa P.O. Box 7236, Cameroon. E-mail: mpierrearmand@yahoo.fr (Mvogo Ndongo)
³Unit of Biodiversity Discovery and Conservation, Cameroon Association for Research on Crustaceans and Others Aquatic Resources, Obala P.O. Box 43, Cameroon.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub: -
(Received 20 January 2024 / Accepted 15 May 2025 / Published -- 2025)
Communicated by His-Te Shih

A new genus, Supraguinea gen. nov. Cumberlidge, Mvogo Ndongo, and Fitch, is established to accommodate four 19 species of freshwater crabs from West Africa that previously included in Liberonautes Bott, 1955 s. l. (Liberonautinae). These are: Supraguinea lugbe (Cumberlidge, 1999) comb. nov., S. constantini (Cumberlidge, Fitch and Clark, 2023) comb. nov., S. rubigimanus (Cumberlidge and Sachs, 1989) comb. nov., and S. nimba (Cumberlidge, 1999) comb. nov. This new genus is defined based on previously-published molecular evidence (Mvogo Ndongo et al., 2024: fig. 8) that indicated the presence of a deep phylogenetic split within Liberonautes s. l. conceived, and on a set of distinctly different morphological characters of the carapace, third maxillipeds, and chelipeds. The species included in the new genus are found in Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Guinea, and are here compared with, and distinguished from, other freshwater crabs occurring in this part of West Africa. The removal of these four species from Liberonautes s. l. leaves the latter genus with nine species, L. latidactylus (De Man, 1903) Cumberlidge and Sachs, 1989, L. paludicolis Cumberlidge and Sachs, 1989, L. chaperi (A. Milne-Edwards, 1887), and L. grandbassa Cumberlidge, 1999, L. kasonko Mvogo Ndongo, von Rintelen, Clark and Cumberlidge, 2024, L. njala Mvogo Ndongo, von Rintelen, Clark and Cumberlidge, 2024, L. schubarti Mvogo Ndongo, von Rintelen, Clark and Cumberlidge, 2024, and L. sugarloaf Mvogo Ndongo, von Rintelen, Clark and Cumberlidge, 2024, which are all compared with the new genus. Identification keys to the four species of Supraguinea gen. nov. Cumberlidge, Mvogo Ndongo, Fitch and to the six genera now included in the Liberonautinae are provided.

Keywords: Liberonautes, Revision, Supraguinea gen. nov., Taxonomy

Citation: Cumberlidge, Mvogo Ndongo PA, Fitch RL. 2025. A new genus of freshwater crab from the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Potamonautidae: Liberonautinae), with keys to the species and an updated key to the liberonautine genera. Zool Stud 64:28.

We follow the code of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, taxonomic papers with new species/genus descriptions will not have early view version.