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Published: 2019-06-06
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On a collection of brachyuran crabs from Lakshadweep, Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura)

Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram–695581, Kerala, India
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 2 Conservatory Drive, 117377, Singapore
Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram–695581, Kerala, India
Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram–695581, Kerala, India
Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram–695581, Kerala, India
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 2 Conservatory Drive, 117377, Singapore
Crustacea crab biodiversity Laccadives India marine taxonomy

Abstract

The crab fauna (Crustacea: Brachyura) of Lakshadweep (Laccadives), a group of Indian islands in the western Indian Ocean is updated, using material from the intertidal and shallow subtidal areas collected between 2012 and 2015. Fifty-three species were recorded during this study, of which 17 species are newly recorded from the islands, and three are also new records for India. A total of 169 species of brachyuran crabs are now known from Lakshadweep. The taxonomy of Elamena gracilis Borradaile, 1903 (Hymenosomatidae) is clarified and stabilized by the designation of a lectotype.

 

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