A reexamination of adults and larval stages of Diogenes nitidimanus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae)

A redescription of adult and larval stages of diogenid hermit crab Diogenes nitidimanus Terao, 1913 is presented. Morphological similarities suggest that D. nitidimanus is allied to D. avarus Heller, 1865, D. granulatus Miers, 1880, D. ovatus Miers, 1881, D. pugilator (Roux, 1838) and D. rectimanus Miers, 1884. Diogenes nitidimanus can be distinguished from the latter four species by different armature or ornamentation of the left chela and/or the shape of the ambulatory dactyli. Zoeal and megalopal stages of this species are described from laboratory-reared material hatched from parental individuals collected from Peter the Great Bay, Russian Far East. Larval development in the Russian population is compared with that described for a population of this species from southern Japan. The developmental morphology between the two populations is generally similar, but some minor differences, which might be attributable to variability, are found. Larvae of D. nitidimanus are morphologically closest to those of D. avarus among eight species of Diogenes for which larval descriptions are available.