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Allogalathea inermis Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
The genus Allogalathea was introduced by Baba in 1969 and until 2011 consisted of only one species, Allogalathea elegans.
New species were described in 2011, so that the genus currently comprises 4 described species:
Allogalathea elegans (Adams, 1847)
Allogalathea inermis Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
Allogalathea inermis Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
Allogalathea longimana Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
The sizes given in the description refer to the carapace.
Allogalathea inermis lives on hair stars Anneissia bennetti (Müller, 1841) formerly Oxycomanthus bennetti (Müller, 1841) and Himerometra robustipinna (Carpenter, 1881)
Allogalathea inermis feeds on plankton, just like its hosts.
The brittle crabs adapt to the colors of the hair stars, making the animal very color-variable and visually more difficult for predators to recognize.
Three patterns have been observed: Carapace and abdomen uniformly dark, usually brown or red
(pattern 1 of Baba, 1979), dark brown with two narrow light stripes (pattern 3 of Baba, 1979), and alternating dark and light longitudinal stripes
(pattern 4 of Baba, 1979), pereiopods uniformly dark (red or brown) or yellowish.
Etymology: From the Latin “inermis” (unarmed), referring to the absence of spines in most squamae of P1.
The genus Allogalathea was introduced by Baba in 1969 and until 2011 consisted of only one species, Allogalathea elegans.
New species were described in 2011, so that the genus currently comprises 4 described species:
Allogalathea elegans (Adams, 1847)
Allogalathea inermis Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
Allogalathea inermis Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
Allogalathea longimana Cabezas, Macpherson & Machordom, 2011
The sizes given in the description refer to the carapace.
Allogalathea inermis lives on hair stars Anneissia bennetti (Müller, 1841) formerly Oxycomanthus bennetti (Müller, 1841) and Himerometra robustipinna (Carpenter, 1881)
Allogalathea inermis feeds on plankton, just like its hosts.
The brittle crabs adapt to the colors of the hair stars, making the animal very color-variable and visually more difficult for predators to recognize.
Three patterns have been observed: Carapace and abdomen uniformly dark, usually brown or red
(pattern 1 of Baba, 1979), dark brown with two narrow light stripes (pattern 3 of Baba, 1979), and alternating dark and light longitudinal stripes
(pattern 4 of Baba, 1979), pereiopods uniformly dark (red or brown) or yellowish.
Etymology: From the Latin “inermis” (unarmed), referring to the absence of spines in most squamae of P1.
