(Latreille, 1812)
The fingers of the chelipeds are armed with seven to eleven teeth. The antero-lateral margins of the carapace have a prominent, acute tooth or at least two lobes behind the exorbital angle. The antero-lateral margins of the carapace have an acute antero-lateral tooth, situated some distance behind the exorbital angle. The cheliped fingers each have eight or nine teeth; the length of the dactylus is equal to about 1.8 times that of the superior margin of the palm. The surface of the carapace is marked with a network of dark, reddish-orange lines surrounding large polygons of which some can be of a different colour in life. (Serène, 1984)
Type locality: Mauritius
Range: Red Sea; Kenya (Serène, 1984); Madagascar - Nosy Bé and Toliara (Serène, 1984); Iles Glorieuses (Serène, 1984); Comoros (Serène, 1984); Aldabra Islands (Lenz, 1905, Guinot, 1964b, 1976, Serène, 1984); Seychelles - Amirante and Coëtivy Islands (Rathbun, 1911); Saya de Malha Bank (Rathbun, 1911); Mauritius (Latreille, 1812, Hoffmann, 1874, Bouvier, 1915b, Michel, 1964, Guinot, 1976, Serène, 1984); Réunion (Hoffmann, 1874); Maldives - (Ortmann, 1893), Minikoi (Borradaile, 1902b); Chagos Archipelago - Salomon (Rathbun, 1911); Japan - Izu Ohshima, Yoron-jima, Ishigaki-jima, and Taketomi-jima (Sakai, 1976a), Ishigaki-jima (Miyake, 1983), Kakeroma-jima and Eniya Islet, Amami-shoto (Takeda, 1989), Ogasawara-shoto; Taiwan; China - Paracel Islands (Dai & Yang, 1991); Indonesia - Ambon (de Man, 1888d); New Guinea (Ortmann, 1893); Mariana Islands (Holthuis, 1953); Wake Island (Dana, 1852); Gilbert Islands (Balss, 1938a, Holthuis, 1953); Rotuma (Borradaile, 1900); Samoa (Ward, 1939); Tuamotu Archipelago (Holthuis, 1953); shallow waters.