Synalpheus

Anker, Arthur & Pachelle, Paulo P. G., 2014, Taxonomic notes on some Brazilian species of Synalpheus Spence Bate, 1888, with new records and description of a new species (Decapoda, Alpheidae), Zootaxa 3815 (2), pp. 215-232 : 227

Synalpheus sp. gambarelloides group

( Fig. 9 )

Material examined. 1 ov. female (cl 5.0 mm, missing posterior part of abdomen and tail fan), Brazil, Ceará, off Fortaleza, Parque Estadual Marinho da Pedra da Risca do Meio, station Dive II, in Agelas dispar , leg. L.E.A. Bezerra, 14.VII.2004 [ MZUSP 31502].

Remarks. Unfortunately, this adult female from Ceará is damaged, missing the two posterior somites of the abdomen, telson and uropods. The short stylocerite ( Fig. 9 A) and the minor chela with well-developed gambarelloid setae ( Fig. 9 E) indicate clearly that this specimen belongs to the Synalpheus gambarelloides species group. However, the combination of the frontal region of the carapace with a short rostral carina extending posteriorly to about mid-length of corneas and flanked by shallow rostro-orbital depressions ( Fig. 9 A); the antennal scaphocerite without a blade and equalling the distolateral tooth of the basicerite ( Fig. 9 A); the major chela with distodorsal protuberance poorly developed and bluntly rounded ( Fig. 9 C, D); and the five-articulated carpus of the second pereiopod ( Fig. 9 F) do not allow to assign it unambiguously to any of the species reported so far from Brazil or the western Atlantic. With a single damaged specimen on hand it is impossible to say whether it belongs to an undescribed or a morphologically variable species.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Synalpheus sp. gambarelloides group, ovigerous female (cl 5.0 mm) from off Fortaleza, Brazil [MZUSP 31502]: A—frontal region, dorsal; B—anterior margin of carapace, lateral; C—major (left) chela, mesial; D—same, distal palm and fingers chela, lateral; E—minor (right) cheliped, lateral; F—second pereiopod, lateral; G—third pereiopod, lateral; H—same, distal propodus and dactylus, lateral.