Palinustus

Palinustus
Palinustus waguensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Family: Palinuridae
Genus: Palinustus
A. Milne Edwards, 1880
Type species
Palinustus truncatus

Palinustus, sometimes referred to as blunthorn lobsters,[2] is a genus of spiny lobsters which primarily live in coral reefs along the Indo-West Pacific region, with some members of this genus being found in the Western Atlantic, Taiwan, and Japan.[3]

Like many other members of its family, Palinuridae, members of the Palinustus genus have spiny bodies, with slightly prismatic carapaces. Notably, members of the Palinustus genus can be distinguished from other genera of spiny lobsters through their widely separated supraorbital horns with truncated ends, along with their large, kidney-shaped eyes and long antennas which end in a whip-like flagellum. While there exists some variation in sizes and colour amongst species, most members of the Palinustus genus have bodies primarily consisting of orange and red tones, along with lighter-coloured bands on its pereiopods and/or antennae.[3]

Species of this genus are generally distributed across deep-water equatorial contexts, making their distribution patterns similar to fellow Palinuridae genera Puerulus, Justitia, and Linuparus.[4] They mostly inhabit the deeper portions of rocky habitats and reef slopes at depths of 59-670m, making them hard to capture and sample when using traditional methods.[5][2]

Taxonomy

The genus Palinustus was first introduced in 1880 by Alphonse Milne-Edwards, a French carcinologist, along with the description of Palinustus truncatus, making it the type species of the genus.[1]

The genus Palinustus comprises five recognised extant species.[6][3]

Previously, an additional species in the genus, Palinustus phoberus, was described by de French malacologist and zoologist Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune in 1883. However, that has since been found to be a junior subjective synonym of the earlier described Panulirus regius (de Brito Capello, 1864), and is now accepted as the latter.[7] Limited number of specimens due to difficulties in retrieving wild samples have been a key taxonomic problem, with specimens of ''Palinustus mossambicus'' and ''Palinustus waguensis'' having been confused for one another in the past.[3] ''Palinustus unicornutus'' has also been previously recognised as a variation of Palinustus waguensis in the past, but are now recognised as discrete species.[8]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution IUCN status
- Palinustus holthuisi Chan & Yu, 1995 - Taiwan and Japan DD [1]
- Palinustus mossambicus Barnard, 1926 Buffalo blunthorn lobster[9] Mozambique and Somalia DD [2]
Palinustus truncatus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 American blunthorn lobster[10] Western Atlantic: Grenadines, The Guianas, the mouth of the Amazon River, Brazil LC [3]
- Palinustus unicornutus Berry, 1979 Unicorn blunthorn lobster[11] Indo-west Pacific: South Africa (east coast), Glorioso Islands, La Reunion Island, Comoro Islands, Japan, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Taiwan, the Philippines, French Polynesia LC [4]
Palinustus waguensis Kubo, 1963 Japanese blunthorn lobster[12] Indo-west Pacific: Japan, Thailand, Southwest India, Andaman Islands[13] LC [5]

References

  1. ^ a b Milne-Edwards, Alphonse (1880). "Reports on the results of dredging under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea,1877, '78, '79, by the U.S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake", Lieut.-Commander C.D. Sigsbee, U.S.N., and Commander J.R. Bartlett, U.S.N. commanding VIII. Études préliminaires sur les Crustacés". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 8 (2): 1–68.
  2. ^ a b Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, P.B. No. 1603, Ernakulam North P.O., Kochi – 682018, Kerala, India; Chakraborty, Rekha Devi; Maheswarudu, G.; Aneesa, K.A.; Sreesanth, L.; Ragesh, N. (2021-12-31). "Deep-Water Japanese Blunthorn Lobster Palinustus waguensis Kubo, 1963: First Estimates of Life History Parameters From the Southwest Coast of India". Asian Fisheries Science. 34 (4). doi:10.33997/j.afs.2021.34.4.005.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c d "THE RARE LOBSTER GENUS PALINUSTUS A. MILNE EDWARDS, 1880 (DECAPODA: PALINURIDAE), WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 15 (2): 376–394. 1995-01-01. doi:10.1163/193724095X00370. ISSN 0278-0372.
  4. ^ "Ecology of Juvenile and Adult Palinuridae (Spiny Lobsters)", The Biology and Management of Lobsters, Academic Press, pp. 59–96, 1980-01-01, doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-091734-4.50009-3, retrieved 2026-04-13
  5. ^ Chan, Tin-Yam; Lin, Chih-Chun; Jeng, Ming-Shou (2016). "Occurrence of the Rare Lobster Palinustus Unicornutus Berry, 1979 (decapoda, Palinuridae) in Taiwan". Crustaceana. 89 (13): 1501–1507. ISSN 0011-216X.
  6. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Palinustus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
  7. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Palinustus phoberus de Rochebrune, 1883". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
  8. ^ Yanagisawa, F. (1987). "Notes on the blunthorn spiny lobster, Palinustus waguensis Kubo collected from the coast of Wakayama Prefecture, Japan". Nanki Seibutu (in Japanese). 29: 102–106.
  9. ^ "Buffalo Blunthorn Lobster (Palinustus mossambicus) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
  10. ^ "American Blunthorn Lobster (Palinustus truncatus) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
  11. ^ "Unicorn Blunthorn Lobster (Palinustus unicornutus) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
  12. ^ "FAO Fisheries & Aquaculture". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
  13. ^ Pillai, S. Lakshmi; Thirumilu, P. (2006). "Unusual landing of Palinustus waguensis at Chennai Fishing Harbour by indigenous gear". Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series. 190: 25–26.
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