(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 2M. The antero-lateral margins of the carapace are divided into four teeth of which the three posterior at least are angular. The ambulatory legs are nodular; on the carapace regions 1L+2L, 3L and 4L are separated from the antero-lateral teeth; region 6L is divided into two parts transversely; 4M is very distinct. The carapace and legs are covered with raised granules leaving hollows and giving the surface here and there an eroded aspect. The carapace is a yellowish colour with symmetrically distributed reddish-orange spots, the largest covering the anterior part and the internal branch of 2M; the chelipeds and legs are orange-red colour. (Serène, 1984)
Type locality: New Caledonia.
Range: Kenya - Wasini Channel (Serène, 1984); Tanzania - Dar es Salaam (Ortmann, 1894b); Mozambique - Delagoa Bay (Barnard, 1950); South Africa - Natal (Odhner, 1925); Mayotte (Guinot, 1958); Madagascar - Nosy Bé and Nosy Fany (Serène, 1984); Seychelles - (Miers, 1884b), Amirante, Coëtivy, and Providence Islands (Rathbun, 1911), Aldabra (Guinot, 1964b); Saya de Malha Bank (Rathbun, 1911); Mauritius (Bouvier, 1915b); Chagos Archipelago (Ward, 1942b); Sri Lanka - (Alcock, 1898), Galle (Odhner, 1925); Andaman Islands (Alcock, 1898); Christmas Islands (Calman, 1909); Japan - Ogasawara-shoto (Odhner, 1925), Tosa Okinoshima (Sakai, 1939), Tosa Okinoshima, Yoron-jima, Ishigaki-jima, and Taketomi-jima (Sakai, 1976a); Taiwan; China - Paracel Islands (Dai & Yang, 1991); Vietnam - Nha Trang (Serène & Luom, 1960); Palau (Takeda, 1976a); Indonesia - Ambon (de Man, 1887d); New Guinea (Odhner, 1925); New Britain - Ralum (Odhner, 1925); Bougainville Islands - Tiop (Odhner, 1925); Australia; New Caledonia (A. Milne Edwards, 1873); Ellice Islands - Nukufetau (Odhner, 1925); Samoa (Odhner, 1925); Line Islands - Palmyra and Tabuaeran (Edmondson, 1923); Tahiti (Odhner, 1925); Tuamotu Archipelago - Sud Marutea (Nobili, 1907); shallow waters.