(A. Milne Edwards, 1873)
The front is not noticeably projecting. The carapace, chelipeds, sternal plastron and abdomen are smooth or granular or stippled but never sponge-like as in species of the subgenus Actites. The ambulatory legs are never with cristiform carinae on their anterior and posterior margins; they are smooth or granular and sometimes nodular. The ambulatory legs are shorter and more squarish; the merus of P4 is less than three times longer than broad. In adult males the extremity of the cheliped merus does not extend (or hardly) beyond the margin of the carapace. The first pleopod of the male is of a diverse shape but never terminates as a short rounded lobe; it is always furnished with more or less numerous setae, usually arranged in a row on one margin of the preapical part. The carapace, chelipeds and ambulatory legs have the surface irregularly or regularly granular, sometimes also punctate but always with a rugose aspect; the regions of the carapace are usually well indicated; 2M is always longitudinally divided, at least partially and very often entirely. On the dorsal surface of the carapace the region 2M is entirely divided longitudinally into two parts. On the carapace region 1M is separated from 2F but not from 2M; regions 2L and 3L are fused together; region 5L is incompletely separated from 1R+2R; all the furrows are narrow but very distinctly indicated. The antero-lateral margins of the carapace are divided into four low, rounded lobes. The carapace, similar to the chelipeds and legs, is covered by a layer of even granules compacted against each other. The carapace and legs are a uniform pale violet colour. (Serène, 1984)
Type locality: New Caledonia.
Range: Red Sea - Massauah (Odhner, 1925); Gulf of Aden - Djibouti, Obock and Perim (Nobili, 1906); Madagascar - north-west (Odhner, 1925), Nosy Bé (Serène, 1984); Mergui Archipelago (Chopra & Das, 1937); Sumatra - North Island (Targioni Tozzetti, 1877); Japan - Tosa Okinoshima (Sakai, 1939), Sagami Bay (Sakai, 1965b), Sagami Bay, Kii Nagashima, Kii Minabe, and Yoron-jima (Sakai, 1976a), Okinawa; Taiwan - P'eng-hu (Lin, 1949); China - Guangxi (Dai & Yang, 1991); Vietnam - Nha Trang (Serène & Luom, 1960); Gulf of Thailand - Koh Chang (Rathbun, 1910a); Indonesia - Java (Targioni Tozzetti, 1877), Ambon (de Man, 1887d); New Guinea (Odhner, 1925); New Caledonia (A. Milne Edwards, 1873); Samoa - Upolu (Ortmann, 1893); 10-20 m.