(Fabricius, 1798)
The carapace is rounded quadrangular, the dorsal surface rather depressed, the usual groove separating gastric and cardiac regions is well demarcated. The lateral borders are feebly convergent backwards, the antero-lateral teeth are three in number including the external orbital one, all being roundish and not much acuminate. The postero-lateral facets are well defined, the surface well cut by a ridge extending from the third lateral tooth toward the base of the last ambulatory leg. The front is pronouncedly expanded and its free margin almost straight and entire. The chelipeds are symmetrical; the wrist has a spiniform tooth at its inner angle, which has one or two accessory spinules. The palm of male is high and its inner surface marked with several tubercles in the middle position, its outer surface traversed by a longitudinal ridge extending along the inferior border. The propodus and dactylus of the ambulatory legs are expanded and their posterior margin thickly fringed with hairs, which serve the animal for swimming. (T. Sakai, 1939: 665)
Type locality: unknown.
Range: Zanzibar (Lenz, 1905); South Africa - Natal and Zululand (Barnard, 1950); Comoros (Crosnier, 1965); Madagascar - Majunga (Lenz, 1905), baie de narendry, Majunga, Maintirano, Ile Sainte-Marie and Fort-Dauphin (Crosnier, 1965); Mauritius (Ortmann, 1894a, Bouvier, 1915b, Michel, 1964); India - seas of India (Alcock, 1900b), Bombay and Kolak (Chhapgar, 1957), Bay of Bengal; Burma - Maungmagan near Tavoy (Chopra & Das, 1937); Sumatra - Banda Aceh (de Man, 1898); Japan - Shimoda, Ise Bay and Gobo (Sakai, 1939), Hachijo-jima (Sakai, 1954), Sagami Bay, Shimoda, Kii Nagashima, Kii Minabe, and Ishigaki-jima (Sakai, 1976a), Okinawa-jima (Miyake, 1983), Tosa Bay and Yoron-jima (Muraoka, 1998), Okukubi River, Okinawa (Shokita et al., 1998), Ginowan, Okinawa (Shokita et al., 2000); Taiwan - (Dai & Yang, 1991), Karenko and Kaohsiung (Sakai, 1939), Tan-shui, I-lan, Chiukang, Yungk'ang, Tungkang, and Hua-lien (Lin, 1949); China - Canton (Stimpson, 1907), Hainan Island (Shen, 1936), Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Hainan Island (Shen, 1940b), Paracel Island (Chen, 1975), Guangdong including Hainan Island and Paracel Islands, Fujian, and Zhejiang (Dai & Yang, 1991); Malay Peninsula - Kota Baharu, Kelantan (Lanchester, 1902); South China Sea - Nansha Islands (Chen & Xu, 1991); Philippines - Pasananca, Mindanao (Miers, 1886), Verde Island Passage (Serène & Vadon, 1981); Indonesia - Sunda Strait (Dana, 1852), Banda (Miers, 1886), Noordwachter Island (de Man, 1888d), Gaspar Strait (Stimpson, 1907), Djangkar, Lombok, Flores, Savu Island, and Nusa Laut (Tesch, 1918a); New Guinea - (Nobili, 1905), north coast (Miers, 1886), Kais (Ortmann, 1894a), Wakip River near Aitape (Rathbun, 1926).