''Arctides guineensis'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

slipper lobster Slipper lobsters are a family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not true lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry ...

that lives in the Bermuda Triangle. It is known in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

as the small Spanish lobster, a name which is also favoured by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Description

''Arctides guineensis'' reaches a maximum length of , or a carapace length of .

Taxonomy

''A. guineensis'' was described in 1799, making it one of the first slipper lobsters to be described, and only the second from the Western Atlantic (after ''

Scyllarides aequinoctialis ''Scyllarides aequinoctialis'' is a species of slipper lobster that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean from South Carolina to São Paulo State, Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Bermuda. Its common name is Spanish slipper ...

'' in 1793). The

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

an species '' Arctides regalis'' was previously considered to belong to the same species as ''A. guineensis'', but the two differ in the number and placement of the spines on the carapace. In the original description of the species,

Lorenz Spengler Lorenz Spengler (22 September 1720 – 20 December 1807) was a Danish turner and naturalist. Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland he arrived at Copenhagen in 1743 and became a tutor to Christian VI of Denmark and later Frederick V of Denmark in th ...

gave the type locality as "", probably meaning

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. However, ''A. guineensis'' is not known to have ever occurred near

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and this locality is probably an error. The species was also described by

Pierre André Latreille Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom ...

in 1818 under the name ''Scyllarus sculptus'', citing a type locality of "" (

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

), which is also unlikely.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4787607 Achelata Edible crustaceans Crustaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Crustaceans described in 1799