Metopograpsus miniatus Saussure, St Thomas, M. de Saussure 1858
Creators: name: Ng, Ngan Kee
name: Rodríguez Moreno, Paula A.
name: Naruse, Tohru
name: Guinot, Danièle
name: Mollaret, Noémy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Decapoda
Grapsidae
Metopograpsus
Metopograpsus miniatus

description: Metopograpsus miniatus Saussure, 1858
(Fig. 7D)
Metopograpsus miniatus Saussure, 1858a: 444, pl. 2, fig. 17, 17a-c; 1858b: 28, pl. 2, fig. 17, 17a-c.
CURRENT TAXONOMIC STATUS. — Junior subjective synonym of Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes, 1850) (Poupin et al. 2005: 44).
LECTOTYPE (by inference of holotype by Türkay 1974c). — MHNG, ♂, St Thomas, Virgin Is.
PRESERVATION OF THE LECTOTYPE. — Carapace with sides distended by a bopyrid (see below); RP2-3, 5 and LP2-4 missing.
PARALECTOTYPE. — MNHN-IU-2000-10994 (= MNHN-B10994), 1♂ 10.4 × 14.2 mm, Saint Thomas, coll. M. de Saussure. — Original label: “ Metopograpsus miniatus Saussure, St Thomas, M. de Saussure ”.
PRESERVATION OF THE PARALECTOTYPE. — Dry. Left side distended by a parasite. RP1-2, RP5 missing, RP3, 4 detached.
REMARKS
Saussure (1858a: 444, pl. 2, fig. 17, 17a-c) described a crab collected from St Thomas, Virgin Is., measuring 12.0 × 16.0 mm as Metopograpsus miniatus, but did not explicitly mention how many specimens he had examined. Rathbun (1918: 244, 245), who synonymised M. miniatus with Pachygrapsus transversus, wrote that the type of M. miniatus was deposited at the MHNG and “its sides [carapace] are distended by a parasite, one side more than the other”. She probably received this information from Zehntner, the Swiss scientist who took care of the MHNG collections at the end of the 19th century (see Appendix). In his paper on the Grapsidae deposited in the MHNG, Türkay (1974c: 142, figs 1, 2, pl. 1, figs 1, 2) regarded this specimen, a male, as holotype of M. miniatus; he figured the G1 and provided a note written on a label by Zehntner signaling the presence of a parasite on the branchial regions. The holotype photographed by Türkay (1974c: 143, pl. 1, figs 1, 2) shows a slightly swollen left branchial region, while neither the description nor the figure of Saussure (1858a: 444, pl. 2, fig. 17) indicates the presence of a parasite deforming the carapace.
In assuming a holotype rather than selecting a lectotype, Türkay (1974c: 142, 143) proceeded as though other syntypes did not existed. But we have found supplementary material, a male MNHN-IU-2000-10994 (= MNHN-B10994), collected by Saussure from St Thomas, presumably at the same time, as confirmed by the mention in the CAA of an exchange between Saussure and the MNHN in 1858, corresponding to the entry “262.58”. This specimen likewise shows a deformation of the carapace. The fact that both specimens are similarly parasitised may be an indication that they should be from the same lot and, presumably, they belong to the syntype series, despite there being no indication of swelling on the carapace in Saussure’s paper. It is reasonable to expect that the original description was based on more than one specimen. Therefore, Türkay (1974c), who published the assumption that the species-group taxon was based upon a single type specimen in recognising a holotype, is deemed to have designated that specimen as the lectotype (Code, Art 74.6). The male MNHN-IU-2000-10994 (= MNHN-B10994) may be considered a paralectotype. It is also the case with Metopograpsus gracilis Saussure, 1858, also from Saint Thomas (see above).
description: Published as part of Ng, Ngan Kee, Rodríguez Moreno, Paula A., Naruse, Tohru, Guinot, Danièle & Mollaret, Noémy, 2019, Annotated type-catalogue of Brachyura (Crustacea, Decapoda) of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. Part II. Gecarcinidae and Grapsidae (Thoracotremata, Grapsoidea), with an Appendix of pre- 1900 collectors, pp. 91-130 in Zoosystema 41 (7) on page 116, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2019v41a7, http://zenodo.org/record/3722522