Rediscovery of Sphaerocarcinus bedoti Zehntner, 1894 (Decapoda : Brachyura: Portunidae) at Socotra Island (Republic of Yemen) and placement in the genus Caphyra Guerin, 1832

Two brachyuran crabs collected at Socotra Island (Republic of Yemen) in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean turned out to be conspecific with Sp haerocarcinus bedoti Zehntner, 1894. so far only known from a single female collected at Amboina, Indonesia, without any information on its ecology. B ased on the new material and especially the availability of a male for comp arison of the morphology of the copulatory appendages (gonopods), Sphaeroca rcinus Zehntner, 1894, is synonymised with Caphyra Guerin, 1832. The extrem ely convex and globose carapace shape of the type specimen from Amboina tur ned out to be atypical and possibly caused by parasitic infection. Ecologic ally, C. bedori, like most species of the genus Caphyra, lives epibiontic o n soft corals (Octocurallia: Alcyonaria).