Hemiaegina minuta Mayer, 1890

(Figure 9)

Hemiaegina minuta Mayer, 1890: 40, pl. 1, figs 25–27, pl. 3 figs 32–35, pl. 5, figs 52, 53, pl. 6, figs 13, 33, 34, pl. 7, fig. 4. McCain, 1968: 61–64, figs 29, 30. McCain and Steinberg, 1970: 51. Gable and Lazo-Wasem, 1987: 637. Serejo, 1997: 630–632, fig. 1. Ortiz et al., 2002, fig. 32. Guerra-García, 2003c: 6–7, fig. 3; 2003d: 105–106, fig. 10. Foster, Thomas, et al., 2004: 161, 163, fig. 3. Guerra-García, 2004: 39–40, fig. 32. Diaz et al., 2005: 3, 5–6, 18, fig. 9. Krapp-Schickel and Guerra-García, 2005: 50–51, fig. 3. Guerra-García, 2006: 443, fig. 43. Guerra-García, Krapp-Schickel, et al., 2006: 171–174, figs 14–16. Winfield, Escobar-Briones, et al., 2007: 47, fig. 15. Guerra-García and Lowry, 2009: 295–297, fig. 3. Guerra-García et al., 2010: 303–304, fig. 6.

Hemiaegina quadripunctata Sundara Raj, 1927: 126, pl. 8.

Hemiaegina costai Quitete, 1972: 165–168, pls. 1, 2.

Material examined

Station 11, 17 females (13 ovigerous), CYMX-12- CY. Station 12, six females (four ovigerous), CYMX-13- CY. Station 29, two males, four females (one female from this station used for figure), CYMX-51- CY. Station 30, one male, CYMX-52- CY (used for figure).

Type locality

Off Amoy, China.

Distribution

Widely distributed in tropical and temperate waters worldwide (McCain 1968; Guerra-García and Lowry 2009; Guerra-García et al. 2010): Indo-Pacific; West and East Atlantic; Mediterranean.

Records in the Gulf of Mexico

MEX: Campeche Sound (Winfield et al. 2006); Alacranes Reef; Cabo Catoche (present study). USA: Port Aransas (Steinberg and Dougherty 1957); off Pensacola– 29°44′ N, 88°25.5′ W; Loggerhead Key (McCain 1968); Biloxi Bay (Pederson and Peterson 2002); St Joseph Bay (Foster, Thomas, et al. 2004).

Habitat

This species has been found on many different substrata (Guerra-García and Lowry 2009; Guerra-García et al. 2010): pelagic Sargassum sp., plankton tows, on the bivalve Arca zebra, in green, brown and red algae, sponges, tunicates, hydroids, seagrasses, dead corals encrusted with algal turf, and under small boulders. The depth range reported is shallow water extending to 354 m (Winfield et al. 2006; Winfield and Escobar-Briones 2008; LeCroy et al. 2009).

Remarks

The genus is currently monotypic. Hemiaegina minuta is easily identified by the following characteristics: hexagonal outline of the pereonites in dorsal view, third article of antenna 1 short, antenna 2 without swimming setae, gnathopod 1 propodus with a round projection proximally, and abdomen with a distinctive pair of twoarticulate appendages (McCain 1968; Guerra-García, Krapp-Schickel, et al. 2006).