New distributional records of two hermit crabs of the genus Diogenes Dana, 1851 (Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae) from the Odisha coast, India

Abstract

Hermit crab specimens were collected from the coastal regions of Arjyapalli (Ganjam district) and Penthakata (Puri district) and identified as two separate species under the genus Diogenes Dana, 1851, characterised by antennules with upper rami of flagella ending in sharp projections, the approximate bases of third maxilliped, and a larger left cheliped compared to the right. These two left-handed hermit crab species, Diogenes dubius (Herbst, 1804) and Diogenes violaceus Henderson, 1893, are reported herein for the first time from the coastal waters of Odisha, India. Diogenes violaceus and D. dubius were distinguished based on bifurcation of antennal aucicle. This paper deals with the detailed morphological characters, morphometric analysis, and distributional information of both the species. Previously, ten species of the genus Diogenes were recorded in the coastal waters of Odisha. With these reports, the valid left-handed hermit crab species of the genus Diogenes ascend to twelve from the state.