Remarks on the distribution of the pinto lobster Panulirus infl atus and the red lobster P. interruptus (Crustacea: Palinuridae) in the Mexican Pacific

Abstract

FIELDWORK ALONG THE WEST COAST OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA HAS RESULTED IN A NORTHERN RANGE EXTENSION, FROM BAHÍA SANTA MARÍA TO PUNTA EUGENIA AND VICINITY, BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR, MEXICO, FOR A PERMANENT POPULATION OF THE PINTO LOBSTER PANULIRUS INFLATUS (BOUVIER, 1895). RECORDS OF THIS SPECIES FROM ÁNGEL DE LA GUARDA ISLAND (WITHIN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA) AND GUADALUPE ISLAND, MEXICO AND SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA ARE CONSIDERED EXTRALIMITAL AND RELATED TO ANNUAL WATER WARMING IN THE GULF AND THE EASTERN PACIFIC WARM WATER CONDITION OR EL NIÑO EVENT, RESPECTIVELY. IN ADDITION, AN HISTORIC ANALYSIS OF THE RED LOBSTER DISTRIBUTION, P. INTERRUPTUS (RANDALL, 1893), SUGGESTS THAT RECORDS SOUTH OF MAGDALENA BAY AND THOSE FROM THE SOUTHERN GULF OF CALIFORNIA ARE EXTRALIMITAL. NEVERTHELESS, THE INDIVIDUALS OF BAHÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES AND VICINITY (INCLUDING TIBURÓN ISLAND AND GUAYMAS, SONORA) SEEMS TO REPRESENT A POPULATION THAT BECAME ISOLATED FROM THAT OF THE WEST COAST OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA AFTER THE MID-PENINSULAR SEA-WAY CORRIDOR, PRESENT IN THE TERTIARY NEOGENE PERIOD, WAS CLOSED ONCE THE PENINSULA COMPLETELY EMERGED.