Updated and Corrected List of Hosts of European Pinnotherids (Crustacea, Decapoda, and Pinnotheridae): Relationship between Number of Hosts and Distribution

Abstract

The present work provides an updated and corrected list of hosts for the five European species of pinnotherid crabs, taking into consideration all recent published works as well as new data obtained in the present study. In relation to the number of hosts, there are two groups of species, one composed by Pinnotheres pisum and Afropinnotheres monodi with the highest number of hosts, and a second group, with a reduced number of hosts and more specific taxa, consisting of three other species: Nepinnotheres pinnotheres, Pinnotheres bicristatus, and P. pectunculi. When studying the relationships between host preferences, host distributions, and pea crab distributions, we could not find a clear direct relationship between these parameters. Temperature is also probably an important influence and relevant factor responsible for the distribution of pinnotherid crabs, and this may be independent from the potential distribution due to the distribution of hosts.

Keywords

• symbiont
• Brachyura
• crab
• bivalves
• ascidians
• ecology