Carapace and abdomen hard and covered with thick setae not seen by naked eye. Carapace uneven with transverse hepatic groove, branchial region being conspicuously flattened. Rostrum only slightly curved upward, not reached to tip of cornea, tapering distally and bifurcating at tip; two small teeth on upper margin, the first of which is located only slightly behind level of bottom of orbit; postrostral carina very strong so as to be a plate, with two teeth. Abdomen with deep sculpture, and each pleura subacute in larger specimens, or sharp with a dorsolaterally curved spinule; dorsal carina also very strong, and anterior end of first segment and posterior ends of fifth and sixth segments produced each into a sharp tooth. Telson rather rapidly tapering. First three pereiopods chelate, last two pairs stouter than the precedings and fringed with soft hairs along for their whole lengths.
Distribution:
West Atlantic from North Carolina through the coasts of Florida, the Gulf of Campeche and the West Indies to southern Brazil, lower tidal zone to 65 m deep.