Appendix 1
All superfamilies, families, and species of brachyurans found in the mangroves are listed below, together with their geographical distribution, habitat, behavior, and life cycle. The information about geographical distribution and certain ecological aspects was taken from Melo (1996).
Superfamily: Xanthoidea MacLeay 1838
Family: Panopeidae Ortmann 1893
Eurytium limosum (Say 1818)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Bermuda, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Central America, Antilles, northern South America, and Brazil (from Pará to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Mud bottoms of mangroves. These crabs live in burrows constructed by themselves or by other species. The burrows are partly filled with water and are located beneath mangrove roots or stones. They are scavengers and can alsoconsume invertebrates, mainly mollusks.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Kurata et al. 1981; Messerknecht et al. 1991). At the fourth juvenile stage it is possible to determine the sex of the crab by the external morphology of the abdominal appendages (Guimarães and Negreiros-Fransozo 2005).
Panopeus austrobesus (Williams 1983)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Brazil (from Rio de Janeiro to Rio Grande do Sul).
Habitat and behavior: Builds burrows in mud sediments of mangroves, beneath stones or mangrove roots. The chelipeds are adapted to manipulate and open mollusk shells. Mollusks may be the main food item.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Montú et al. 1988). The juvenile development was described by Hebling et al. (1982; as P.herbstii). It is possible to recognize the sex beginning with the 4th juvenile stage.
Panopeus occidentalis (Saussure, 1857)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – from North Carolina to Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Central America, Antilles, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Ceará to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: This species lives in sand bottoms, under rocks or mangrove roots. They are scavengers, andcan be predators of invertebrates.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Ingle, 1985).
Superfamily: Pinnotheroidea De Haan 1833
Family: Pinnotheridae De Haan 1833
Austinixa patagoniensis (Rathbun 1918)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Brazil (from Rio de Janeiro to Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay, and Argentina.
Habitat and behavior: Lives on sandy bottoms, and can live in tubes of Callichirus(Thalassinidea, Crustacea) and Arenicola (Polychaeta).
Life cycle: Five zoea stages and one megalopa (Boschi 1981).
Zaops ostreuus (Say 1817)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – from Massachusetts to southern Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, and Brazil (from Pernambuco to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: The adult lives commensally in bivalves, mainly oysters of the genus Crassostrea. Probably it feeds on food particles from inhalant currents.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Sandifer 1972).
Superfamily: Grapsoidea MacLeay 1839
Family: Gecarcinidae MacLeay 1839
Cardisoma guanbumi Latreille 1825
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Bermuda, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Ceará to São Paulo).
Habitat and behavior: Builds deep burrows in the upper (inland) zone of the mangroves, but in areas where seawater may reach. Mainly herbivorous, but may also act as a scavenger.
Life cycle: Five zoea stages and one megalopa (Costlow and Bookhout 1968).
Family: Grapsidae MacLeay 1838
Goniopsis cruentata (Latreille 1803)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Bermuda, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Guyana, and Brazil (Fernando de Noronha and from Pará to Santa Catarina). Eastern Atlantic – from Senegal to Angola.
Habitat and behavior: In mangroves, on or under the roots and trunks. It does not build burrows. It has predates upon invertebrates, including other crabs.
Life cycle: Only the first zoea stage is known (Fransozo et al. 1998).
Pachygrapsus gracilis (Saussure 1858)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – North Carolina, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Ceará to Rio Grande do Sul). Eastern Atlantic – CaboVerdeIsland to Angola; Mediterranean Sea; Eastern Pacific (California to Peru).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on rocky bottoms, and occasionally among mangrove roots and on sandy beaches. Herbivorous, feeds on algae.
Life cycle: Only 13 zoea stages are known (Brossi-Garcia and Rodrigues 1993).
Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes 1850)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Bermuda, from North Carolina to Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, northern South America, Brazil (from Ceará to Rio Grande do Sul).
Habitat and behavior: In the intertidal zone, under stones, on sandy beaches, and among mangrove roots.
Life cycle: Eleven zoea stages (Cuesta and Rodriguez 1994) and one megalopa. It is possible to recognize the sex beginning with the second juvenile stage (Flores et al. 1998).
Family: Sesarmidae Dana 1851
Aratus pisonii (H. Milne Edwards 1837)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Piauí to São Paulo). Eastern Pacific – from Nicaragua to Peru.
Habitat and behavior: Lives on roots, branches, and trunks of mangroves. It is mainly herbivorous.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Díaz and Bevilacqua 1987).
Armases angustipes (Dana 1852)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Mexico, Antilles, and Brazil (from Ceará to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives in the supratidal zone of estuaries, near a freshwater source. Also lives on rocky bottoms and in bromeliads. Omnivorous, feeds on animal remains and plants.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Cuesta & Anger 2001).
Armases rubripes (Rathbun 1897)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Central America, northern South America, Guyana, Brazil (from Ceará to Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay, and Argentina.
Habitat and behavior: Lives on the sediment or among the roots, branches, and trunks of mangroves. It feeds on algae that live on mangrove roots.
Life cycle: Five zoea stages and one megalopa (Díaz and Ewald 1968; Montú et al. 1990).
Sesarma rectum Randall 1840
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil (from Amapá to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives in the upper zone of the mangroves.It constructs a shallow burrow under trees (Hibiscus tiliaceus L.), in grassy areas or in drier zones. It feeds on animal remains and plants.
Life cycle: Three zoea stages and one megalopa (Fransozo and Hebling 1986). From the 12th juvenile stage it is possible to distinguish the sex (Fransozo 1987) by the secondary sexual characters (abdomen shape, and number of abdominal appendages).
Family: Varunidae H. Milne Edwards 1837
Neohelice granulata (Dana 1851)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Brazil (from Rio de Janeiro to Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay, and Argentina.
Habitat and behavior: Lives on muddy sediments, where it constructs a shallow burrow. Semi-terrestrial and can remain for several hours under stones or tree trunks.
Life cycle: Four or five zoea stages and one megalopa (Boschi et al. 1967).
Cyclograpsus integer (H. Milne Edwards 1853)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and Brazil (from Ceará to Santa Catarina); Eastern Atlantic (from Cabo Verde Islands to Senegal); Indo-Pacific.
Habitat and behavior: Lives in burrows in the marine supratidal zone, and in the intertidal zone on stony beaches. Also lives in estuaries.
Life cycle: Five or six zoea stages and one megalopa (Gore and Scotto 1982).
Superfamily: Ocypodoidea Rafinesque 1815
Family: Ocypodidae Rafinesque 1815
Uca (Leptuca) cumulanta Crane 1943
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Central America, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Pará to Rio de Janeiro). This is the first record of this species for the state of São Paulo.
Habitat and behavior: Lives on mud or sand-mud beaches, near mangrove trees, but not beneath the canopy. Populations are generally concentrated below mid-tide level.
Life cycle: Beginning with the 3rd juvenile stage it is possible to distinguish the sex (Hirose et al. 2010) by the secondary sex characters (abdomen and cheliped shape).
Uca (Leptuca) leptodactylus Rathbun 1898
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Maranhão to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on sandy bottoms, near the sea. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Unknown.
Uca (Leptuca) uruguayensis Nobili 1901
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Brazil (from Rio de Janeiro to Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay, and Argentina.
Habitat and behavior: Lives on sandy bottoms with small amounts of mud, near the sea and river mouths. It lives in burrows at the edges of mangroves. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Five to six zoea stages and one megalopa (Rieger 1992).
Uca (Minuca) burgersi Holthuis 1967
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Maranhão to São Paulo).
Habitat and behavior: Burrows in low vegetation (mainly Poaceae) of mangrove edges. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Rieger 1992). Its juvenile development was recently described by Vieira et al. (2010). It is possible to recognize the sex from the 4th juvenile stage on.
Uca (Minuca) mordax (Smith 1870)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Gulf of Mexico, Central America, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Pará to São Paulo).
Habitat and behavior: Burrows in low vegetation (mainly Poaceae) of the middle zone in mangroves. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Five to six zoea stages and one megalopa (Rieger 1992).
Uca (Minuca) rapax (Smith 1870)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Pará to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Burrows in sediments of different grain sizes. It lives among vegetation in mangrove edges. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Unknown.
Uca (Minuca) thayeri Rathbun 1900
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Maranhão to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives mainly in mud or sand-mud bottoms, near rivers, sometimes in shaded areas. The burrow is generally elevated above the sediment like a chimney. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Four zoea stages and one megalopa (Anger et al. 1990).
Uca (Minuca) vocator (Herbst 1804)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Gulf of Mexico, Central America, Antilles, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Pernambuco to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives mainly in mud sediments, near rivers, generally in shaded zones. The burrow has two openings, 10 cmapart. Deposit feeder.
Life cycle: Four, five, or six zoea stages and one megalopa (Rieger 1992).
Family: Ucididae Števčić 2005
Ucides cordatus (Linnaeus 1763)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Central America, Antilles, northern South America, Guyana, and Brazil (from Pará to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on mud sediments among mangrove roots. The burrows are generally deep and straight. It feeds on remains of animals and plants.
Life cycle: Five or six zoea stages and one megalopa (Rodrigues and Hebling 1989).
Superfamily: Portunoidea Rafinesque 1815
Family: Portunidae Rafinesque 1815
Callinectes boucorti A. Milne Edwards 1879
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil (from Amapá to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on subtidal unconsolidated sediments of estuaries, and in low-salinity water. Lives on mud, sand, and rocky bottoms, and can live on bottoms with mollusk shells, at depths to20 m. An opportunist predator, feeds oninvertebrates and small vertebrates.
Life cycle: Unknown.
Callinectes danae Smith 1869
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Bermuda, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Paraíba to Rio Grande do Sul).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on unconsolidated subtidal sediments and tolerates changes in salinity. Present in estuaries. An opportunist predator, feeds on invertebrates and small vertebrates.
Life cycle: Unknown.
Callinectes exasperatus (Gerstaecker 1856)
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – Bermuda, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil (from Maranhão to Santa Catarina).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on unconsolidated subtidal sediments and tolerates changes in salinity. Present in estuariesand creeks to depths of 8 m. An opportunist predator, feeds on invertebrates and small vertebrates.
Life cycle: Unknown.
Callinectes sapidus Rathbun 1896
Geographical distribution: Western Atlantic – east coast of USA to Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, Central America, Venezuela, Brazil (from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul), and Argentina. Eastern Atlantic, North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Black Sea, and Indo-Pacific (Japan).
Habitat and behavior: Lives on unconsolidated subtidal sediments. An opportunist predator, feeds on invertebrates and small vertebrates.
Life cycle: Seven or eight zoea stages and one megalopa (Costlow and Bookhout 1959).
Literature cited
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