''Munida rugosa'', commonly known as the rugose squat lobster or plated lobster, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of decapod

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

found in the north east

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

Taxonomy

There has been confusion over the

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal naming conventions, conventions of everyday speech to the i ...

of certain members of the genus ''

Munida ''Munida'' is the largest genus of squat lobsters in the family Munididae, with over 240 species. Species *''Munida abelloi'' Macpherson, 1994 *''Munida acacia'' Ahyong, 2007 *''Munida acantha'' Macpherson, 1994 * ''Munida acola'' Macpherson, 2 ...

'' for some time but in 1986, A. L. Rice and

Michèle de Saint Laurent Michèle de Saint Laurent (December 9, 1926 – July 11, 2003) was a French carcinologist. She spent most of her career at the ' in Paris, working on the systematics of Decapoda, decapod crustaceans; her major contributions were to hermit crabs an ...

examined the literature and specimens in collections and determined that there were four species involved. They determined that the correct names were ''Munida rugosa'' (Fabricius, 1775), '' M. tenuimana'' G. O. Sars, 1872, '' M. intermedia'' A. Milne Edwards & Bouvier, 1899, and '' M. sarsi'' Huus, 1935. The first three species occur in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea while ''M. sarsi'' is found only in the Atlantic. The name ''M. bamffia'' was used extensively in the 19th century and early 20th century but it seems to have been used for two species, ''M. intermedia'' and ''M. rugosa''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''"bamffius"'' was itself an error as

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

was naming his newly described species after the town of Banff in Scotland near where his specimen was found.

Description

''Munida rugosa'' is orange with transverse bands of darker colour on the

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tor ...

and abdomen. It is up to long but like other members of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, it folds its abdomen beneath its

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

. The carapace including the

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

is about long. The carapace has a few spines on the back edge and the rostrum has a single central

spine Spine or spinal may refer to: Science Biology * Vertebral column, also known as the backbone * Dendritic spine, a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite * Thorns, spines, and prickles, needle-like structures in plants * Spine (zoolog ...

, flanked by two shorter spines above the eyes. The thread-like antennae are slightly shorter than the first pair of appendages which are tipped by long narrow white pincers. The next three pairs of limbs also have white tips and are used for walking. The fifth pair is particularly thin and is usually held underneath the margins of the carapace. The eyes are relatively small in this species and the morphology varies over its range. More southerly specimens are more spiny, have more

seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

e on the abdomen and have longer, more slender limbs.

Distribution

''Munida rugosa'' is found in the western

, around

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, in the north eastern

, in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and adjacent continental waters north of 25°N. at depths of up to , typically in cracks or under boulders.

Biology

Gametogenesis Gametogenesis is a biological process by which diploid or haploid precursor cells undergo cell division and differentiation to form mature haploid gametes. Depending on the biological life cycle of the organism, gametogenesis occurs by meiotic d ...

is followed by

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

l release and larval settling. The eggs are carried in the female's brood patch and the

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

are released at the most favourable season for their survival when there is the most particulate food available. In a study of ''M. rugosa'' from the west of Scotland, it was found that 86% of the females carrying embryos had mated with more than one male. It has been found that some larger males exhibit

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

in that their claws become arched rather than being straight. This seems to be a form of sexual selection and it may be that such

chela Chela may refer to: * ''Chela'' (fish), a genus of small minnow-type fish in the Cyprinid family * Chela (organ), a pincer-like organ terminating certain limbs of some arthropods such as crabs * Chela (meteorite), a meteorite fall of 1988 in Tan ...

are more able to inflict puncture wounds when males are interacting in competition for females.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3932327 Squat lobsters Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1775 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius