Annotated checklist of Anomuran Decapod Crustaceans of the world (Exclusive of Kiwaoidae and families Chirostylidae and Galatheidae of the Galatheoidea) Part I – Lithodoidea, Lomisoidea and Paguroidea

The preamble to the Systema Brachyurorum (Ng et al., 2008), the catalysis for this and similar annotatedchecklists, began with the readers’ attentions directed to previous catalogues that had contributed substantially to theassociations of scientifi c names with the brachyuran crabs they represented. Among the paguroid Anomura MacLeay 1838, two publications similarly have been indispensible. Alcock’s (1905b) catalog provided not only information on the holdings in the Indian Museum, but a listing of all species known at the time; Gordan’s (1956) bibliography of paguroids since Alcock’s publication made available to the scientifi c community a thorough literary review of fi fty years of research. A similar cornerstone for lithodids was Dawson’s (1989) comprehensive bibliography that included both systematic and fi shery orientated references. However, during the more than half a century since these monographic summations, the total number of species has increased several folds. Only in the Lomisoidea Bouvier, 1895 has the species number remained only one. In contrast to the 16 genera and 95 species documented by Dawson, recognized lithodoid species now total 129, in 15 genera (Acantholithus Stimpson, 1858 formally having been placed in synonymy with Paralomis White, 1847). Most of these additional taxa have been assigned to the lithodid genera Lithodes Latreille, 1806 and Paralomis. Although a direct comparison with thenumber of species and subspecies (varieties) listed by Gordan (1956) is not realistic as hers was simply a compilation of names in the existing literature of the time, there is no doubt that increased genera and species recognition has been greatest in the Paguroidea Latreille, 1802: Coenobitidae Dana 1851, two genera and 17 species; Diogenidae Ortmann, 1892, 20 genera and 428 species; Paguridae Latreille 1802, 75 genera and 542 species; Parapaguridae Smith, 1882, 10 genera and 76 species; Pylocheles Bate, 1888, 10 genera and 52 species; Pylojacquesidae McLaughlin & Lemaitre, 2001, two genera and two species. However, these numbers,particularly in the species category, will undoubtedly change as taxonomic revisions in progress and those contemplated are completed and published. Perhaps it should be noted that while the estimated number of paguroid genera 120 provided by De Grave et al. (2009), agreed with the number of 120 documented in the present checklist, the number of species differed somewhat, 1,069 in the De Grave et al. (2009) checklist, and 1,106 in the present study, with 36 new species added following publication of De Grave et al. (2009). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 2010. Supplement Vol. 23. P: 105-107