Updating the hosts and distribution range of the pea crab Pinnotheres bicristatus (Brachyura: Pinnotheridae)
(EN)
GALIMANY, EVE
RAMÓN, MONTSERRAT
MARCO-HERRERO, ELENA
CUESTA, JOSE A.
DRAKE, PILAR
ABELLÓ, PERE
Small crabs belonging to the family Pinnotheridae are characterized by living mainly inside bivalves. In European waters therecently described pea crab Pinnotheres bicristatus increased to five the known number of pinnotherid species. The known distributionof P. bicristatus encompassed the area between the Gulf of Cádiz (NE Atlantic) and the western Alboran Sea (SW Mediterranean).The species has so far been reported to occur in the pallial cavity of the common saddle oyster, Anomia ephippium,between 11 and 52 m depth. Over a period of two years, a total of 43 specimens of P. bicristatus were collected in two differentprojects/surveys along the Mediterranean coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, thus enlarging its known occurrence to the eastern AlboranSea and the NW Mediterranean at depths of between 37 and 71 m. We also report a new bivalve host for the species, the flatoyster, Ostrea edulis, and provide population structure information of these new records. As a conclusion, this study considerablyextends the known geographical distribution of P. bicristatus in latitude, longitude and depth.
(EN)
