Expansion of occurrence of two bat crabs (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Parthenopidae) from the West to the Southeast Coast of India

• Main Authors: S. Ravichandran, Ramasamy Anbuchezhian, K. Sivasubramaniyan, G. Rameshkumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2010-12-01
• Series: Biotemas
• Subjects: bat crabs; Brachyura; India; new occurrence; Parthenopidae
• Online Access: http://www.biotemas.ufsc.br/volumes/pdf/volume234/163a167a.pdf

Studies of distribution of any marine organism are very important to know the span of expansion in the oceans and to find out the factors behind that occurrence. In the present study two species of crabs, Cryptopodia fornicata and Cryptopodia angulata (Crustacea, Brachyura, Parthenopidae) were reported for the first time in the Point Calimere coastal region, Southeast Coast of India. All the specimens were found to be sexually mature. This is the rare occurrence of these two bat crabs in Indian Coast which expands in its known range. In the present observation records a second distributional area of the species and significantly extends the range from the West coast to the Southeast coast of India.