Palinustus

{{Short description|Genus of spiny lobsters}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Male specimen of Palinustus Waguensis.png | image_caption = ''Palinustus waguensis'' | taxon = Palinustus | authority = A. Milne Edwards, 1880 | type_species = ''Palinustus truncatus'' | type_species_authority = A. Milne Edwards, 1880<ref name="description">{{Cite journal |last=Milne-Edwards |first=Alphonse |date=1880 |title=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 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=sourcedetails&id=130200 |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=1-68}}</ref> }}

'''''Palinustus,''''' sometimes referred to as '''blunthorn lobsters''',<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, P.B. No. 1603, Ernakulam North P.O., Kochi – 682018, Kerala, India |last2=Chakraborty |first2=Rekha Devi |last3=Maheswarudu |first3=G. |last4=Aneesa |first4=K.A. |last5=Sreesanth |first5=L. |last6=Ragesh |first6=N. |date=2021-12-31 |title=Deep-Water Japanese Blunthorn Lobster Palinustus waguensis Kubo, 1963: First Estimates of Life History Parameters From the Southwest Coast of India |url=https://www.asianfisheriessociety.org/publication/downloadfile.php?id=1377&file=Y0dSbUx6QXdPVGsyTXpRd01ERTJOREE0T0RJeE16RXVjR1Jt |journal=Asian Fisheries Science |volume=34 |issue=4 |doi=10.33997/j.afs.2021.34.4.005|doi-access=free }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Source1">{{Cite journal |date=1995-01-01 |title=THE RARE LOBSTER GENUS PALINUSTUS A. MILNE EDWARDS, 1880 (DECAPODA: PALINURIDAE), WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES |url=https://academic.oup.com/jcb/article-lookup/doi/10.1163/193724095X00370 |journal=Journal of Crustacean Biology |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=376–394 |doi=10.1163/193724095X00370 |issn=0278-0372|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Source1" />

thumb|distribution map of genus Palinustus from GBIF (accessed 14 April 2025)|center|500x500px 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''.<ref>{{Citation |title=Ecology of Juvenile and Adult Palinuridae (Spiny Lobsters) |date=1980-01-01 |work=The Biology and Management of Lobsters |pages=59–96 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/edited-volume/abs/pii/B9780080917344500093 |access-date=2026-04-13 |publisher=Academic Press |language=en-US |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-091734-4.50009-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chan |first=Tin-Yam |last2=Lin |first2=Chih-Chun |last3=Jeng |first3=Ming-Shou |date=2016 |title=Occurrence of the Rare Lobster Palinustus Unicornutus Berry, 1979 (decapoda, Palinuridae) in Taiwan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44250142 |journal=Crustaceana |volume=89 |issue=13 |pages=1501–1507 |issn=0011-216X}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==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.<ref name="description">{{Cite journal |last=Milne-Edwards |first=Alphonse |date=1880 |title=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 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=sourcedetails&id=130200 |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=1-68}}</ref>

The genus ''Palinustus'' comprises five recognised extant species.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Palinustus A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=204971#vernaculars |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.marinespecies.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Source1" />

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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Palinustus phoberus de Rochebrune, 1883 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1425033 |access-date=2026-04-13 |website=www.marinespecies.org}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Source1" /> ''Palinustus unicornutus'' has also been previously recognised as a variation of ''Palinustus waguensis'' in the past, but are now recognised as discrete species.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yanagisawa |first=F. |date=1987 |title=Notes on the blunthorn spiny lobster, ''Palinustus waguensis'' Kubo collected from the coast of Wakayama Prefecture, Japan |journal=Nanki Seibutu |language=Japanese |volume=29 |pages=102-106}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution !! IUCN status |- | - ||''Palinustus holthuisi'' Chan & Yu, 1995|| - || Taiwan and Japan || DD [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/185009/8346195] |- | - ||''Palinustus mossambicus'' Barnard, 1926|| Buffalo blunthorn lobster<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buffalo Blunthorn Lobster (Palinustus mossambicus) {{!}} U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |url=https://www.fws.gov/species/buffalo-blunthorn-lobster-palinustus-mossambicus |access-date=2026-04-13 |website=www.fws.gov |language=en}}</ref> || Mozambique and Somalia || DD [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/170047/6720447] |- | center|200x200px||''Palinustus truncatus'' A. Milne-Edwards, 1880|| American blunthorn lobster<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Blunthorn Lobster (Palinustus truncatus) {{!}} U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |url=https://www.fws.gov/species/american-blunthorn-lobster-palinustus-truncatus |access-date=2026-04-13 |website=www.fws.gov |language=en}}</ref>|| Western Atlantic: Grenadines, The Guianas, the mouth of the Amazon River, Brazil || LC [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/170029/6713375] |- | - ||''Palinustus unicornutus'' Berry, 1979|| Unicorn blunthorn lobster<ref>{{Cite web |title=Unicorn Blunthorn Lobster (Palinustus unicornutus) {{!}} U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |url=https://www.fws.gov/species/unicorn-blunthorn-lobster-palinustus-unicornutus |access-date=2026-04-13 |website=www.fws.gov |language=en}}</ref>|| Indo-west Pacific: South Africa (east coast), Glorioso Islands, La Reunion Island, Comoro Islands, Japan, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Taiwan, the Philippines, French Polynesia || LC [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/170048/6720721] |- | center|200x200px||''Palinustus waguensis'' Kubo, 1963|| Japanese blunthorn lobster<ref>{{Cite web |title=FAO Fisheries & Aquaculture |url=https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/openasfa/2e457387-55cc-488f-b7dc-5b13a59bbed6 |access-date=2026-04-13 |website=www.fao.org}}</ref>|| Indo-west Pacific: Japan, Thailand, Southwest India, Andaman Islands<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pillai |first=S. Lakshmi |last2=Thirumilu |first2=P. |date=2006 |title=Unusual landing of Palinustus waguensis at Chennai Fishing Harbour by indigenous gear |url=https://eprints.cmfri.org.in/3837/ |journal=Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series |language=en |volume=190 |pages=25–26}}</ref> || LC [https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/170043/6719201] |}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Spiny lobsters Category:Decapod genera Category:Taxa named by Alphonse Milne-Edwards