Salmoneus cavicolus Felder & Manning, 1986

Anker, Arthur, 2010, The shrimp genus Salmoneus Holthuis, 1955 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Alpheidae) in the tropical western Atlantic, with description of five new species *, Zootaxa 2372 (1), pp. 177-205 : 202

Salmoneus cavicolus Felder & Manning, 1986

Salmoneus cavicolus Felder & Manning 1986: 503 (part., holotype only).

Material examined. 1 breeding female (cl 4.9 mm, tl 14.3 mm), USNM 205998 , Turks and Caicos Islands, Pine Cay / Walk Cay, 1 m depth, mud, bait suction pump, leg. R.W. Heard & R. B. Manning, 9.IV.1988 ; 1 nonbreeding specimen (cl not measured, damaged and without P1), USNM 2657377 , Florida , Fort Lauderdale, south end of Point Everglades, dredge, 3 m depth, leg. C.G. Messing & R. Lemaitre, VIII.1993 .

Description. For description and figures see Felder & Manning (1986, refer to holotype only).

Size. The breeding female from Turks and Caicos is the largest of the two specimens, with cl 5.3 mm and tl 17 mm .

Colour in life. Unknown.

Type locality. Indian River Lagoon, Florida .

Distribution. Until now, S. cavicolus was known only from the type locality in St. Lucie County, Indian River Lagoon, Florida. The present material extends its range southwards to Fort Lauderdale along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and much further south to the Turks and Caicos Islands (southeast of the Bahamas).

Ecology. The Turks and Caicos specimen was collected from a burrow on muddy bottom, at about 1 m ; the Fort Lauderdale specimen was dredged from 3 m.

Remarks. The adult breeding female from Turks and Caicos is the only intact specimen known for S. cavicolus for the holotype has been dissected by Felder & Manning (1986). It agrees very well with the holotype, except for the somewhat longer rostrum, which in the present specimen reaches to the distal margin of the second segment of the antennular peduncle vs. only slightly past the mid-length of the second segment in the holotype. As pointed out earlier ( Anker 2007), the two paratypes of S. cavicolus seem to belong to two different species that will be described in the near future.