New records of two species of freshwater crabs (Decapoda: Gecarcinucidae) from Kerala, India, with notes on their distribution

Abstract

Abstract Kerala has the highest known diversity of freshwater crabs among the Indian states, and many more species are likely to be added to the state, especially from the Western Ghats. The present specimens from the Western Ghats of Kerala add two more species records to Kerala: Oziotelphusa wagrakarowensis (Rathbun, 1904) and Vanni nilgiriensis (Roux, 1931). Although O. wagrakarowensis was reported from the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, it has not been recorded from Kerala previously. The present record of O. wagrakarowensis also constitutes the first reliable report of the species from the Western Ghats. The other species, V. nilgiriensis, was previously known from the Western Ghats of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kerala now includes 37 species of gecarcinucid crabs with the addition of these two new records whereas the Western Ghats of India currently has 59 species.