ON THE TAXONOMY OF CHORILIA JAPONICA (MIERS, 1879) (BRACHYURA, EPIALTIDAE) AND THE FIRST RECORD OF A TEMPERATE WATER CRAB SPECIES IN TAIWAN

Abstract

The taxonomy of the poorly known spider crab Chorilia japonica (Miers, 1879) is revised, and the species redescribed based on the types from Japan and fresh specimens, with its male first gonopods illustrated for the first time. Comparisons with the allied C. longipes Dana, 1851, and C. turgida Rathbun, 1924 from America, are made, with the species separated by the structures of their carapace, ambulatory legs and gonopods. Chorilia Dana, 1851, a supposedly temperate genus, is now formally reported from Taiwan. The records of C. japonica from northeastern Taiwan extend the distribution of the genus in the western Pacific down to subtropical waters.