Leptalpheus pereirai Anker & Vera Caripe, 2016

Scioli, Justin A., Robles, Rafael & Felder, Darryl L., 2024, New species and records of the symbiotic shrimp genus Leptalpheus Williams, 1965, with notes on Fenneralpheus Felder & Manning, 1986, and preliminary molecular analysis of phylogenetic relationships (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae), Zootaxa 5466 (1), pp. 1-72 : 57

Leptalpheus pereirai Anker & Vera Caripe, 2016

( Fig. 30b–d )

Lepalpheus pereirai Anker & Vera Caripe, 2016: 186 , figs. 1–4.

Leptalpheus sp. 1 .— Anker, 2011: 24, figs. 18A–E, 19A, B.

Material examined. Panama: 1 female (cl 4.9 mm), MNHN-IU-2011-5244, Bocas del Toro , Isla Carenero, sandflat with seagrass, 0.5–1 m, coll. A. Anker, J.A. Vera Caripe & J.A. Baeza, 18.11.2006 ; 1 male (cl 8.3 mm), MNHN- IU-2011-5245, Bocas del Toro , Isla Colón, off STRI station dock, seagrass flat, 0.5–1 m, coll. A. Anker & B. Martínez-Guerrero, 14.08.2008 ; 1 ovigerous female (cl 7.5 mm), UF 51705 , Bocas del Toro , Isla Colón, near Playa de Estrellas , coll. M. Leray & P.P.G. Pachelle, 05.04.2019 . Cuba: 1 ovigerous female (cl 6.5 mm), ULLZ 18275 [ USNM 1706512 ] , Isla de Pinos (Isla de la Juventud), Cayo Francés, coll. D.L. Felder & J.C. Martínez-Iglesias, 09.06.1995 .

Description. See Anker & Vera Caripe (2016).

Color in life. Semitransparent with sparse red chromatophores; chromatophores densest on antennular and antennal peduncles, dorsal surface of carapace, telson, uropods, major cheliped, and anterior margins of adominal somites where they are organized into diffuse bands; walking legs semitransparent, without chromatophores; eggs yellow ( Fig. 30b–d ; also see Anker & Vera Caripe 2016: fig. 4).

Type locality. Bocas del Toro, Caribbean coast, Panama .

Distribution. Caribbean Sea: Venezuela (Anker & Vera-Caripe, 2016), Panama (Anker & Vera-Caripe 2016; present study), and Cuba (present study).

Ecology. Obligate burrow cohabitant of a yet undetermined host. Anker & Vera Caripe (2016) hypothesized that the host of L. pereirai may be Glypturus acanthochirus Stimpson, 1866 on the basis that this species was present at all the sites where L. pereirai was collected, but this is yet to be confirmed.

Remarks. The specimen reported above from Cuba morphologically very closely matches the description of this species, leaving little doubt that it is the same species as reported from Panama and Venezuela.

Our phylogenetic analysis failed to elucidate well the evolutionary relationships of L. pereirai . Interspecific pairwise distances between L. pereirai and other species were generally high (COI distances 19.8–28.6%, 16S distances 12.9–30.2%). However, in both cases the species with the lowest interspecific distance from L. pereirai was L. denticulatus A. It is possible that L. pereirai is an Atlantic relative of the Indo-West Pacific L. pacificus species group, a conclusion somewhat supported by morphology, especially of the major cheliped. However, we are unable to confirm this hypothesis with presently available data.

Figures

FIGURE 30. Color patterns of Leptalpheus pacificus Banner & Banner, 1975 and Leptalpheus pereirai Anker & Vera Caripe, 2016. Leptalpheus pacificus: a, female (cl 6.0 mm), ULLZ 18236 [USNM 1706502], from Oahu, Hawaii, lateral. Leptalpheus pereirai: b, ovigerous female (cl 7.5 mm), UF 51705, from Bocas del Toro, Panama, lateral; c, same, dorsal; d, same, close-up of major chela, lateral. Photographs by the third author (a) and Paulo P.G. Pachelle (b–d).