Invasion History

First Non-native Panama (Pacific) Tidal Record: 1969

Panama Invasion History:


Invasion history elsewhere in the world:

None


Description

None


Taxonomy

Taxonomic Tree

Kingdom:   Animalia
Phylum:   Arthropoda
Subphylum:   Crustacea
Class:   Malacostraca
Subclass:   Eumalacostraca
Superorder:   Eucarida
Order:   Decapoda
Suborder:   Pleocyemata
Infraorder:   Brachyura
Superfamily:   Hymenosomatoidea
Family:   Hymenosomatidae
Genus:   Elamenopsis
Species:   kempi

Synonyms

(, )
Neorhynchoplax kempi (Sakai, 1938)
Rhynchoplax kempi (Lucas, 1980)

Potentially Misidentified Species

Neorhynchoplax alcocki
Original identification of crabs in Panaman Canal. This species is native to estuaries in India.

Ecology

Food:

Submerged plants

Consumers:

Fishes

Trophic Status:

Herbivore

Herb

Habitats

General HabitatFresh (nontidal) MarshNone
General HabitatGrass BedNone
General HabitatNontidal FreshwaterNone
General HabitatTidal Fresh MarshNone
General HabitatCanalsNone
Salinity RangeLimnetic0-0.5 PSU
Salinity RangeOligohaline0.5-5 PSU
Tidal RangeSubtidalNone
Vertical HabitatEpibenthicNone


Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Salinity (‰)0Field (Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, Abele 1972)
Maximum Salinity (‰)8Field, Panama Canal (Mark Torchin, pers, comm, prefers 0-1 PSU); 2.7 PSU, Shat-al-Arab estuary, Iraq, (Ali et al. 1995).
Broad Temperature RangeNoneSubtropical-Tropical
Broad Salinity RangeNoneLimnetic-Oligohaline

General Impacts


Regional Distribution Map

Bioregion Region Name Year Invasion Status Population Status
PAN_PAC Panama Pacific Coast 1969 Def Estab

Occurrence Map

OCC_ID Author Year Date Locality Status Latitude Longitude

References

Abele, Lawrence E. (1972) Introductions of two freshwater decapod crustaceans (Hymenosomatidae and Atyidae) into Central and North America, Crustaceana 23(3): 209-218

Abele, Lawrence G.; Kim, Won (1989) The decapod crustaceans of the Panama Canal, Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 482: 1-50

Ali, Malik H.; Salman, Salman D.; Al-Adhub, A. Y. (1995) Population dynamics of the hymenosmatid crab Elamenopsis kempi in a brackish subtidal region of Basra, Iraq, Scientia Marina 59(1): 1-13

Kam, Yulang; Schlöder, Carmen; Roche, Dominique G.; Torchin, Mark E. (2011) The Iraqi crab, Elamenopsis kempi in the Panama Canal: distribution, abundance and interactions with the exotic North American crab, Rhithropanopeus harrisii, Aquatic Invasions 6: corrected proof

Salman D. Salman; Ali, Malik H. (1996) Larval development of Elamenopsis kempi (Chopra and Das (Brachyura, Hymenosomatidae) reared in the laboratory, Scientia Marina 60(2): 407-416