The Synonymy of the Supratidal Crab Species Parasesarma cognatum Rahayu & Li, 2013 with P. liho Koller, Liu & Schubart, 2010 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Sesarmidae) Based on Morphological and Molecular Evidence, with a Note on P. paucitorum Rahayu & Ng, 2009

Hsi-Te Shih; Pei-Yi Hsu; Adnan Shahdadi; Christoph D Schubart; Jheng-Jhang Li

doi:10.6620/ZS.2019.58-21

The Synonymy of the Supratidal Crab Species Parasesarma cognatum Rahayu & Li, 2013 with P. liho Koller, Liu & Schubart, 2010 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Sesarmidae) Based on Morphological and Molecular Evidence, with a Note on P. paucitorum Rahayu & Ng, 2009

Zool Stud. 2019 Sep 10:58:e21. doi: 10.6620/ZS.2019.58-21. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Hsi-Te Shih^#^{1

2}, Pei-Yi Hsu^#¹, Adnan Shahdadi^#³, Christoph D Schubart⁴, Jheng-Jhang Li^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
² Research Center for Global Change Biology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
³ Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
⁴ Zoologie & Evolutionsbiologie, Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan.
⁶ East Peak Ecological Consultants, Inc., Linyuan, Kaohsiung 832, Taiwan.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Parasesarma liho Koller, Liu & Schubart, 2010 and P. cognatum Rahayu & Li, 2013 from East and Southeast Asia are similar species that have been confused in several studies. Here, we re-examined the type specimens of both species and found identical main characters, which is supported by the molecular identity of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. As a result, we treat P. cognatum as a junior subjective synonym of P. liho. We also show that the male paratype of P. paucitorum Rahayu & Ng, 2009 is conspecific with P. liho, although P. paucitorum s. str. remains a distinct but allied species. The distribution of P. liho is updated to include Japan (Ryukyus), Taiwan, Philippines (Cebu) and Indonesia (Sulawesi).

Keywords: Mitochondrial COI; Morphology; P. cognatum; P. liho; P. paucitorum; Parasesarma.