Reappraisal of the status of two recently described western Atlantic species of sand crabs (Anomura: Albuneidae)

Abstract

During a study of American Albuneidae in the collections of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), London, and the U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C., three species were found that proved to be of unusual interest. One of these, collected at Curagao, is so aberrant that it cannot be placed in any of the existing Albuneid genera; a new genus, Zygopa, is now erected for it. The second species is probably identical with Lepidopa chilensis Lenz from Chile and Peru, but if this is the case, the original description is misleading in so many details that recognition of the species from it is well nigh impossible; a description of the present material is given here. Of the third species, Lepidopa richmondi Benedict from the Caribbean area and Brazil, additional details are provided and its differences from Lepidopa benedicti Schmitt are enumerated.The abbreviation cl. designates carapace length.