Platythelphusa
genus of crustaceans
Platythelphusa is a genus of freshwater crabs endemic to Lake Tanganyika. It has been placed in a number of families, including a monotypic family, Platythelphusidae, as well as Potamidae and its current position in the Potamonautidae, and has also been treated as a subgenus of Potamonautes. It forms a monophyletic group, possibly nested within the genus Potamonautes, which would therefore be paraphyletic. The genus is the only evolutionary radiation of crabs to have occurred in a freshwater lake, and it occurred recently, probably since the Pliocene. This parallels the better known radiation of cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika. Only one other species of freshwater crab is found in Lake Tanganyika, Potamonautes platynotus.
Taxonomic history
The first freshwater crab to be described from Lake Tanganyika, by Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1887, was considered so distinct from the other crabs known up to that time that it was placed in a new genus, as Platythelphusa armata. Twelve years later, a second species was described by W. A. Cunnington, leader of the third Tanganyika Expedition, and was also placed in a separate genus, as Limnothelphusa maculata. The same author later described a third species, Platythelphusa conculata, and eventually realised that all three belonged to the same genus, reducing Limnothelphusa to a taxonomic synonym.
In 1952, Capart did not recognise the species P. conculcata, but added four new species, P. denticulata, P. echinata, P. polita and P. tuberculata.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Platythelphusa” is genus of crustaceans. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Platythelphusa, genus and crustaceans, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “genus of crustaceans” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2594196. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1887 and 1952.
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This entry incorporates text from “Platythelphusa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.