Journal article

Publication year: 2003

Pages: 79-85

Journal: Memoirs of Museum Victoria

Volume number: 60

Issue number: 1

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2003.60.11

Publisher: Museum of Victoria, Melbourne

Abstract: 

Information on horizontal and vertical distributions of all known
western Atlantic species of Porcellanidae is summarised, and an updated
list of the 48 currently valid species is presented. The distributions
and zoogeographic affinities of the group are discussed. In the western
Atlantic, the Caribbean–West Indies region is the richest in number of
species with 43, of which 40 species occur in the southern Caribbean.
Species numbers decrease towards the peripheral regions of Florida, with
17 species, and Brazil, with 19 species (including two endemics). The
Caribbean–West Indies porcellanid fauna shares 17 species with tropical
Florida and 17 with tropical Brazil. There is a clear similarity in
species composition between the tropical faunas of Florida and Brazil,
sharing 11 species. Based on depth ranges, the species can be divided
into "intertidal" (range ≤ 7 m) and "sublittoral" (range > 7 m)
species. Arelationship was observed between depth distributions and
geographic ranges of western Atlantic porcellanids: "sublittoral"
species have wide geographic ranges, presumably as result of greater
dispersal potential and ability to colonise a variety of ecological
habitats; "intertidal" species have narrow geographic ranges, presumably
as result of lower dispersal ability and narrow ecological
requirements. For western Atlantic porcellanids, the Amazon River delta
and the Florida Current are dispersal barriers more effective for
"intertidal" than for "sublittoral" species.

Harvard Citation style: Werding, B., Hiller, A. and Lemaitre, R. (2003) ​Geographic and distributional patterns of western Atlantic Porcellanidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura), with an updated list of species, Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 60(1), pp. 79-85. https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2003.60.11

APA Citation style: Werding, B., Hiller, A., & Lemaitre, R. (2003). ​Geographic and distributional patterns of western Atlantic Porcellanidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura), with an updated list of species. Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 60(1), 79-85. https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mmv.2003.60.11