CRABS (BRACHYURA) OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

Ilea pugnax (Smith, 1870).
Crabs of the Gulf of Mexico 147
This is another species with a history of frequent nomenclatural changes.
Most older references have included this crab as a Gulf species, but Salmon and
Atsaides (1968b) referred the Gulf populations of U. pugnax to new species,
U. virens and V. longisignalis. Crane (1975) maintained U. virerLS as a subspecies
of U. pugnax, but she placed U. longisignalis as a subspecies of V. rapax.
Until a revision by Tashian and Vernberg (1958), Z7. rapax was considered a
subspecies of U. pugnax; thus all four forms are closety related. However, von
Hagen (1976) synonymizes Z7. virens with U. rapax and considers U. longisignalis
to be synonymous with U. minaxl The present list treats each form separately,
maintaining each species presented by Salmon and Atsaides (1968b)
and excluding U. pugnax as a Gulf species.
Vca rapax (Smith, 1870) (Trans. Connecticut Acad. Arts Sci. 2: 134)
As V. pugnax rnpn;c—Rathbun, 1918, p. 397 (part), pi. 140; Maccagno, 1928, p.
45, text-fig. 29; Rathbun, 1933, p. 97; de Oliviera, 1939a, p. 134.
As V. rapax—Tashian & Vf3rnberg, 1958, Holthuis, 1959, p. 266, text-figs. 64d-f,
65, pi. 14, figs. 4-6, pi. 15, fig. 3; Chace & Hobbs, 1969, p. 214, figs. 73a-b; von
Hagen, 1970a, p. 226; Crane, 1973, p. 190, figs. 52C-DD, 54F, 67C, 86, 91E-F,
100, pis. 27A-D, 45C-F, map 14.
Range: Bahamas; east coast of Florida; Florida Keys; southwest coast of Florida;
northeast coast of Mexico to northeast Yucatan; north and south coasts of
Cuba; Jamaica; Hispaniola; Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands to Trinidad
and Tobago; Netherlands Antilles; east coast of Yucatan to Guatamala; Caribbean
coast of Panama to Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Habitat: mud, sand-mud, and mud-sand flats; edges of mangroves; along
rivers and streams on flats and banks.
Remarks: This species may also occur infrequently along the northwestern
Gulf coast, but Crane (1975) attributes records of this crab to U. rapax longisignalis.
Felder (1973a) listed V. rapax from the same area, but past records may
be erroneous with regard to the several similar species involved. Listed from
Brazil by Coelho and Ramos (1972).
Behavioral studies include observations on waving displays (Crane, 1943a,
1957), combat between males (Crane, 1957, 1967), visual and acoustical signalling
(Salmon and Atsaides, 1968a), kinaesthetic orientation (von I^agen,
1967), orientation to burrows (von Hagen, 1970b), and feeding (Miller, 1965).
Warner (1969) studied the natural historj^ of this crab in Jamaica and Holthuis
(1959) provided ecological notes and populations in Surinam. Smith and Miller
(1973) measured thermal adaptations. Barnwell (1963) observed motor activity
and the rhythmicity of color changes in populations in Brazil. Handedness and
its relationship to development was analyzed by Vernberg and Costlow (1966).
Adaptations to particular tidal levels were observed by von Hagen (1970b). Salmon
(1971) measured vibration receptivity and van Delft (1968) studied daily
rhythms of color changes.