Occurrence of arboreal-climbing grapsids and other brachyurans in two mangrove areas of southern Luzon, Philippines

Abstract

Despite the obvious importance to ecosystem functioning, the most prominent groups belonging to the Grapsidae are generally regarded as less studied in the Philippines. In this study, the occurrence of arboreal-climbing grapsids and other brachyurans associated with the mangals of Quezon and Catanduanes was considered including some aspects on climbing, burrowing and feeding behaviour of selected grapsids represented by Hemigrapsus, Pseudograpsus and Metopograpsus. The non-grapsoid taxa are represented by Varunidae ( Ptychognathus), Portunidae (Charybdis Portunus Scylla Thalamita); and Eriphiidae (Epixanthus ).Metopograpsus latifrons (White 1847) [Grapsus ] is an exclusive mangrove tree climber (EMTC), while Pseudograpsus elongatus (A. Milne Edwards 1873) is described here as occasional mangrove tree climber (OMTC).Hemigrapsus (Hemigrapsus) penicillatus (De Haan 1835)[Grapsus (Eriocheir)] is a non-mangrove arborealclimbing species (NTC) only seen on crevices of the mangrove areas. P. elongatus creates burrows most often than M. latifrons Likewise, the study provides information on the presence of the portunid orange mud crab (Scylla olivacea ); the green mud crab (S. paramamosain ); the varunid (Ptychognathus altimana ); and extremely abundant xanthiid crab, Epixanthus dentatus in the mangroves of Catanduanes but not in Pagbilao, Quezon.