Living the Sci Life

rhamphotheca:

The blue crab of Christmas Island, Discoplax celeste, new species

(Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Gecarcinidae).

Peter K. L. Ng & Peter J. F. Davie. Pp. 89–100 

The indigenous Blue Crab of Christmas Island, previously misidentified as “Discoplax hirtipes (Dana, 1851)”, is here recognised as a distinct new species, D. celeste. In addition to its unique blue-coloured carapace when adult, the new species can be distinguished from true D. hirtipes by carapace, male abdominal, and male first gonopod characters.

To stabilise the taxonomy of Cardisoma hirtipes Dana, 1851, a neotype from the original type locality in Fiji, is selected. A separate eastern Indian Ocean taxon, Discoplax aff. hirtipes, present in the Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands and western Sumatra is also found in small numbers on Christmas Island…

(read more of this paper)

The Blue Crab of Christmas Island sounds like it should be the title of a pulp novel or a Titin story, right?