Alpheus paracrinitus subsp. sensu Anker, Tavares & Mendonça, 2016, sensu

Alpheus paracrinitus Miers, 1881 sensu lato

Alpheus paracrinitus Miers 1881: 365, pl. 16, fig. 6; Holthuis 1951: 74; Crosnier & Forest 1966: 253, fig. 15a–f; Chace 1972: 69; Manning & Chace 1990: 16; McClure 2005: 150 (partim, not fig. 19); Alves et al. 2008: 49; Souza et al. 2011: 46; De Grave et al. 2014: 5; Brown 2015: 59.

Alpheus cf. paracrinitus —Almeida et al. 2012: 12, fig. 2D; Santos et al. 2012: 152, fig. 3I; Soledade & Almeida 2013: 104, fig. 6E.

Alpheus cf. rostratus —Soledade & Almeida 2013: 103, fig. 6B [not A. rostratus Kim & Abele, 1988].

[a more complete synonymy will be provided in the revision of the Alpheus paracrinitus species complex (Anker, in study)]

Material examined. Brazil: 1 female, MZUSP 33271, Trindade Island, Enseada dos Portugueses, Ponta da Calheta, 20°30’18.7”S – 29°18’31.6”W, depth: 15.9 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 12.v.2014; 1 male, 1 ovig. female, MZUSP 33402, Trindade Island, Enseada dos Portugueses, Praia da Calheta, 20°30’18.7”S – 29°18’31.6”W, depth: 9.9 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 26.x.2014; 1 male, 1 ovig. female, MZUSP 33402, same collection data; 1 female, MZUSP 34114, Trindade Island, Enseada dos Portugueses, Farol, 20°29’52.3”S – 29°19’15.6”W, depth: 12.6 m, ARS, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 06.vii.2015; 1 male, MZUSP 30967, Trindade Island, Enseada da Cachoeira, Farrilhões, 20°31’22.4”S – 29°19’52.0”W, depth: 9.5 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 08.vii.2013; 1 male, 1 ovig. female, MZUSP 30241, Trindade Island, Enseada da Cachoeira, Farrilhões, 20°31’22.4”S – 29°19’52.0”W, depth: 17.9 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 04.vii.2012; 2 males, 1 ovig. female, MZUSP 30271, Trindade Island, Enseada da Cachoeira, Farrilhões, 20°31’22.4”S – 29°19’52.0”W, depth: 11.8 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 20.vi.2012; 1 female, MZUSP 30287, Trindade Island, underwater boulder near Ponta Noroeste, 20°29’46.4”S – 29°20’35.4”W, depth: 11.6 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 04.vii.2012; 1 male, MZUSP 30254, Martin Vaz Island, 20°28’26.9”S –28°51’20.9”, depth: 13 m, coll. J.B. Mendonça, 23.vii.2013. Size of largest male: cl 4.5 mm (MZUSP 30254); largest female: cl 5.0 mm (MZUSP 30241).

Additional (extra-limital) material examined. Brazil: 2 males, 1 ovig. female, 1 juvenile, MNRJ 17915, Atol das Rocas, Praia do Farol, in tide pools, coll. P.S. Young, P.C. Paiva & A.A. Aguiar, 08.x.2000; 1 male, 1 female, 2 ovig. females, MNRJ 17921, Atol das Rocas, between Ilha do Farol and Ilha do Cemitério, low tide, coll. C. Serejo and M.C. Rayol, 31.x.2001. Cape Verde Islands: 2 specimens (sex not determined), NHMW 19844, São Tiago Island, Bay north of Moia-Moia, sand and rubble, coll. D. Abed-Navandi, ix.1999.

Description. See Miers (1881) for original description and illustrations, and Crosnier & Forest (1966) for more detailed text and figures; Banner & Banner (1982) provided description and illustrations of the Indo-West Pacific material (but see below); Soledade & Almeida (2013) published colour photographs of two Brazilian species of the A. paracrinitus complex (as A. cf. paracrinitus and A. cf. rostratus).

Distribution. Pantropical species complex. Amphi-Atlantic: Cape Verde Archipelago; Senegal; São Tomé & Príncipe; Ascension Island; Saint Helena Island; Gulf of Mexico; Florida; throughout Caribbean Sea; Bermuda; Brazil: Paraíba to Espírito Santo, Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas, Trindade and Martin Vaz Archipelago, (Chace 1972; Christoffersen 1979; Kim & Abele 1988; Manning & Chace 1990; McClure 2005; Soledade & Almeida 2013 and references therein; Brown 2015; present study). Eastern Pacific: Clipperton Island; Mexico to Galapagos (Kim & Abele 1988). Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea to Japan, Australia and Hawaii (Banner 1953; Banner & Banner 1973; Chace 1988).

Ecology. Coral and rocky reefs and associated habitats, also seagrass beds with abundant coral rubble and coralline algae; typically in crevices of coral rubble and coralline algae or under rocks; intertidal to at least 30 m (species complex, see below).

Remarks. Alpheus paracrinitus is part of a large pantropical species complex, which is currently being revised by one of the authors (A. Anker, in study). Based on preliminary data, none of the Indo-West Pacific and eastern Pacific specimens is referable to A. paracrinitus sensu Miers (1881), originally described from Senegal. However, at least three species seem to be present in the Atlantic Ocean and two of them are present in Brazil. One of the Atlantic species appears to be more closely related to the eastern Pacific A. rostratus Kim & Abele, 1988 (A. Anker, unpublished data; see also Williams et al. 2001; Soledade & Almeida 2013: figs. 6B, E). In Brazil, A. paracrinitus was previously known from several localities on the continental coast and Fernando de Noronha, and both species may co-occur, for instance in Bahia (Soledade & Almeida 2013). The present material represents the first record of at least one of the species (possibly A. paracrinitus sensu stricto) from Atol das Rocas and Trindade Island.