Systematic Study of the Superfamily Paguroidea (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) from Korea

Abstract

In this study, the author present a systematic discussion of Korean hermit crabs by analysis of morphologic and DNA barcoding characteristics. The author performed a taxonomic examination of 61 species, 18 genera, and 3 families of Korean paguroid. Based on the findings of this study, the exclusive presence of 3 species in Korea could be called into question, 2 species were found to be synonymized, the Korean names of 5 species could be confirmed and the author could expand the geographical distributions for 6 species. A checklist, distribution maps, and identification keys were also designed for this study. In the DNA barcoding study, 159 individuals of 9 species of Paguroidea specimens in Korea were analyzed using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and 16S rRNA sequences. The results show that the 5 species do not fit into the existing taxonomic scheme i.e., Pagurus minutus group, P. brachiomastus and P. simulans group, and P. quinquelineatus and P. rectidactylus group.