De Brito Capello, 1864
Diagnosis:
Antennular plate with four large spines arranged in a square, without scattered small spinules. Third maxilliped without exopod. Transverse groove of abdominal somites with straight margins, not crenulated, where interrupted, gradually narrowing towards middle of body, not ending abruptly.
Colour: abdominal somites greenish with a very distinct white transverse band along posterior margin and separated from that margin by a dark band. A distinct eyespot (white or yellowish surrounded by open dark ring) above bases pleura somites 1 to 6; those of the posterior pleura smaller and more elongate than those of the anterior. Tail fan rather uniformly greenish or brownish.
Type:
Type locality of P. regius: "Habita os mares das ilhas de Cabo-verde. Na ilha de S. Vicente d'este archipelago foi encontrado.... o exemplar que nos serviu de typo" ( = São Vicente, Cape Verde Archipelago). Holotype in MNL, Lisbon, Portugal, lost in the fire of 1978.
Type locality of Phyllosoma commune: "Taken at Porto Praya and during the voyage until 2,58,0 S lat. 9,21,22 E long." (West Africa from Porto da Praia, Ilha de São Tiago, Cape Verde Islands, 14°54'N, 23°31'W, and from there to off Gabon 2°58'S, 9°21'22"E). Four syntypes in BM, no. 170 (dry, condition fair).
Type locality of P. rissonii: " Nice", S. France. Whereabouts of type material unknown.
Type locality of P. longipes Pfeffer: "Monrovia" (Liberia, 6°19'N 10°48'W) and "St. Thomé, West-Afrika" (Ilha de São Thomé, 0°12'N, 6°39'E). Syntypes in ZMH.
Type locality of Palinustus phoberus: "Embouchure de la Gambie et de la Casamence "(= mouths of the Gambia River, Gambia, and of the Casamence River, southern Senegal). Types in MP, no longer extant.
Type locality of Puer atlanticus: " dans le trémail, par 20 mètres de profondeur, au voisinage de Sainte-Lucie, île du Cap Vert " ( = Ilha de Santa Luzia, Cape Verde Islands, 16°46'N 24°45'W); holotype in MOM, no. 380624 (in alcohol).
Geographical Distribution:
Eastern Atlantic region: west coast of Africa between Cape Juby (Morocco) and Mocâmedes.(S. Angola), and western Mediterranean (east coast of Spain, south coast of France).
Habitat and Biology:
The species inhabits shallow water from the sublittoral to 40 m, but is mostly found between 5 and 15 m. It seems to prefer rocky bottoms.
Size:
Maximum total body length 35 cm, usually not more than 25 cm.
Interest to Fisheries:
The species is fished for throughout its range, mostly with vertical nets or by trawling; it is also taken by hand or with lobster pots. The lobsters are sold fresh locally. French (Breton) and Spanish fishing boats bring the specimens alive (or frozen) to France and Spain where they are marketed. In some places in Spain, the lobsters are kept alive in "viviers" before being sold. In Angola "the quantity of "lobsters" is not sufficient to assure the development of fisheries on large commercial scale" (Da Franca, 1966:1).