Description of Leurocyclus tuberculosus (Decapoda, Brachyura) for northern Chilean Patagonian inner seas (41°S, Puerto Montt, Chile)

Abstract

Abstract The brachyuran crab, Leurocyclus tuberculosus (H. Milne Edwards & Lucas, 1842) is widely distributed along the Atlantic coast of South America, but there are no precise records about its occurrence on the Chilean Pacific coast. The present study is a description of four juvenile specimens of L. tuberculosus collected from an intertidal prairie of Gracilaria sp. in an inner sea in Chile (41°S, Puerto Montt). According to existing literature, the specimens would be juvenile individuals belonging to L. tuberculosus that, in accordance with the literature, was described as probably inhabiting the Chilean coasts without more details. The literature revealed that this species is widely distributed along the Atlantic coasts of South America, and can also, probably due to dynamic oceanographic processes, be present on the southern Pacific coast.