First record of Polyonyx loimicola Sankolli, 1965 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Anomura, Porcellanidae) from the Red Sea, Egypt

Abstract

The first record of the porcellanid crab, Polyonyx loimicola Sankolli, 1965, from Ain-Sokhna, Suez Gulf, Egypt, the Red Sea, is provided far away from its known localities in India and Pakistan. The present specimens were found in association with one tube-dwelling polychaete species, Chaetopterus variopedatus (Renier, 1804), in soft sandy habitat. They agree well with the original description of P. loimicola in most of its diagnostic characters. Intraspecific variation is recognized in the number of ventral spines of the ambulatory propodi.