''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African

freshwater crab Around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine crabs, which relea ...

s in the family

Potamonautidae Potamonautidae is a family of freshwater crabs endemic to Africa, including the islands of Madagascar, the Seychelles, Zanzibar, Mafia, Pemba, Bioko, São Tomé, Príncipe and Sherbro Island. It comprises 18 extant genera and 138 extant species. ...

. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; and Cumberlidge, N. (2014). Advances in Freshwater Decapod Systematics and Biology. Pp. 86-87. They are found in most freshwater habitats of the African mainland and some species are semi- terrestrial.

Species

It contains the following species: * ''

Potamonautes adeleae ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' Bott, 1968 * '' Potamonautes alluaudi'' (Bouvier, 1921) * '' Potamonautes aloysiisabaudiae'' (Nobili, 1906) * ''

Potamonautes amalerensis ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (Rathbun, 1935) * ''

Potamonautes antheus ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (Colosi, 1920) * ''

Potamonautes anchietae ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (Brito Capello, 1871) * ''

Potamonautes ballayi ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (A. Milne-Edwards, 1886) * '' Potamonautes bayonianus'' (Brito Capello, 1864) * ''

Potamonautes berardi ''Potamonautes berardi'' is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in the Nile Basin in Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Its natural habitats are rivers and stream A stream is a continuous body ...

'' (Audouin, 1826) * '' Potamonautes bipartitus'' ( Hilgendorf, 1898) * ''

Potamonautes brincki ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (Bott, 1960) * ''

Potamonautes calcaratus ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (Gordon, 1929) * '' Potamonautes clarus'' Gouws, Stewart & Coke, 2000 * '' Potamonautes depressus'' (Krauss, 1843) * '' Potamonautes dybowskii'' (Rathbun, 1905) * '' Potamonautes dentatus'' Stewart, Coke & Cook, 1995 * '' Potamonautes didieri'' (Rathbun, 1904) * '' Potamonautes dubius'' (Brito Capello, 1864) * '' Potamonautes ecorssei'' (Marchand, 1902) * '' Potamonautes emini'' ( Hilgendorf, 1892) * '' Potamonautes gerdalensis'' Bott, 1955 * '' Potamonautes granularis'' Daniels, Stewart & Gibbons, 1998 * ''

Potamonautes idjiwiensis ''Potamonautes idjiwiensis'' is a species of crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to the island of Idjwi in Lake Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its natural habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises th ...

'' (Chace, 1942) * '' Potamonautes ignestii'' (Parisi, 1923) * ''

Potamonautes infravallatus ''Potamonautes infravallatus'' is a species of crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to Tanzania. Its natural habitat is river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea ...

'' ( Hilgendorf, 1898) * ''

Potamonautes isimangaliso ''Potamonautes isimangaliso'' is a species of freshwater crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa. Its natural habitat are the ephemeral wetlands fringing the western shores of False Bay. ...

'' (Peer & Gouws, 2015) * '' Potamonautes jeanneli'' (Bouvier, 1921) * ''

Potamonautes johnstoni ''Potamonautes johnstoni'' is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in rivers in Kenya and Tanzania, with unconfirmed records from Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species' distribution include ...

'' (Miers, 1885) * '' Potamonautes kensleyi'' Cumberlidge & Tavares, 2006 * '' Potamonautes langi'' (Rathbun, 1921) *'' Potamonautes licoensis'' Daniels, Bittencourt-Silva, Muianga & Bayliss, 2020 * '' Potamonautes lirrangensis'' (Rathbun, 1904) * ''

Potamonautes lividus ''Potamonautes lividus'', also known as the blue river crab, is a species of decapod in the family Potamonautidae. ''P. lividus'' is endemic to the country of South Africa in a area of 200 kilometers squared. The species prefers inland freshwa ...

'' Gouws, Stewart & Reavell, 2001 * '' Potamonautes loashiensis'' Bott, 1955 * '' Potamonautes loveni'' (Colosi, 1924) * '' Potamonautes loveridgei'' (Rathbun, 1933) * '' Potamonautes lueboensis'' (Rathbun, 1904) * '' Potamonautes machadoi'' Bott, 1964 * '' Potamonautes macrobrachii'' Bott, 1953 * '' Potamonautes margaritarius'' (A. Milne-Edwards, 1869) * '' Potamonautes montivagus'' (Chace, 1953) * ''

Potamonautes mutandensis ''Potamonautes mutandensis'' is an endangered species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in Lake Mutanda and Lake Kivu in Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République dém ...

'' (Chace, 1953) * '' Potamonautes neumanni'' ( Hilgendorf, 1898) * ''

Potamonautes niloticus ''Potamonautes niloticus'' is a species of freshwater crab in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in the Nile Basin in Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda. Numerous specimens of ''P. niloticus'' are known from Miocene The Miocene ( ...

'' (H. Milne-Edwards, 1837) * '' Potamonautes obesus'' (A. Milne-Edwards, 1868) * '' Potamonautes odhneri'' (Colosi, 1924) * '' Potamonautes paecilei'' (A. Milne-Edwards, 1886) * '' Potamonautes parvicorpus'' Daniels, Stewart & Burmeister, 2001 * '' Potamonautes parvispina'' Stewart, 1997 * '' Potamonautes perlatus'' (H. Milne-Edwards, 1837) * '' Potamonautes preparvus'' (Rathbun, 1921) * '' Potamonautes pilosus'' ( Hilgendorf, 1898) * '' Potamonautes platycentron'' Hilgendorf, 1897 * ''

Potamonautes platynotus ''Potamonautes platynotus'' is a species of freshwater crab which is endemic to Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the seco ...

'' (Cunnington, 1907) * '' Potamonautes punctatus'' Bott, 1955 * '' Potamonautes raybouldi'' Cumberlidge & Vannini, 2004 * ''

Potamonautes reidi ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S. ...

'' Cumberlidge, 1999 * '' Potamonautes rodolphianus'' (Rathbun, 1909) * '' Potamonautes rothschildi'' (Rathbun, 1909) * ''

Potamonautes rukwanzi ''Potamonautes rukwanzi'' is a species of crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to Uganda. Its natural habitat is freshwater lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinc ...

'' Corace, Cumberlidge & Garms, 2001 * '' Potamonautes schubotzi'' (Balss, 1914) * '' Potamonautes semilunaris'' Bott, 1955 * '' Potamonautes senegalensis'' Bott, 1970 * '' Potamonautes sidneyi'' (Rathbun, 1904) * '' Potamonautes stanleyensis'' (Rathbun, 1921) * ''

Potamonautes suprasulcatus ''Potamonautes suprasulcatus'' is a species of crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is found in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. Its natural habitat is river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towa ...

'' ( Hilgendorf, 1898) * ''

Potamonautes triangulus ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' Bott, 1959 * '' Potamonautes unispinus'' Stewart & Cook, 1998 * '' Potamonautes unisulcatus'' (Rathbun, 1933) * '' Potamonautes walderi'' (Colosi, 1924) * ''

Potamonautes warreni ''Potamonautes'' is a genus of African freshwater crabs in the family Potamonautidae. It is both the most widespread and most diverse genus of African freshwater crabs, including more than half the species of this continent.Yeo, C.J.; Klaus, S.; ...

'' (Calman, 1918) * '' Potamonautes xiphoidus'' Reed & Cumberlidge, 2006 One extant species is also known from the fossil record; ''P. niloticus'' is abundant in

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

sediments () of Lake Albert. Extinct species assigned to ''Potamonautes'' are also known from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesSub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and the Nile Basin, with more than 30 species in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

(none on

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

and other offshore African islands), more than 20 in the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...

region, 20 in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

, 6 in northeast Africa and 5 in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

. Although the genus includes common and widespread species, others have very restricted ranges of occurrence. For example, ''P. dubious'' is found only in limited parts of the

Kunene River The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It then flows west along the border until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It ...

and upper Zambezi River in Southern Africa.C.Michael Hogan. 2012
''Kunene River''. eds. P.Saundry & C.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC.
/ref>

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1384585 Potamoidea Decapod genera Extant Late Cretaceous first appearances Taxonomy articles created by Polbot