Synalpheus dardeaui ( Rios & Duffy, 2007 )

Hultgren, Kristin M., Macdonald Iii, Kenneth S. & Duffy, J. Emmett, 2010, Sponge-dwelling snapping shrimps of Curaçao, with descriptions of three new species *, Zootaxa 2372 (1), pp. 221-262 : 229

Synalpheus dardeaui ( Rios & Duffy, 2007)

Material examined. Curaçao: 1 non-ov. individual ( VIMS 08 CU4305), Piscadera Baai east (65 m depth), from the canals of Spongia sp. , CL 4.2 mm .

Color. Non-descript and drab.

Hosts and ecology. The single individual of S. dardeaui collected in Curaçao inhabited a Spongia sp. collected at ~ 65 m depth that also hosted several individuals of Synalpheus idios .

Distribution. Belize (Macdonald et al. 2006; Rios & Duffy 2007), Caribbean Panama ( Morrison et al. 2004, as “ pandionis giant”), Curaçao (this study).

Remarks. S. dardeaui is the largest species in the sponge-dwelling Synalpheus gambarelloides group ( Rios & Duffy 2007) and as such tends to inhabit sponges with larger canals such as Spheciospongia vesparium and Lissodendoryx colombiensis Zea & van Soest (Macdonald et al. 2006, Rios & Duffy 2007). These sponge species were absent from our surveys in Curaçao, and S. dardeaui occurred only in Spongia sp. from deep water, which had some of the largest canal sizes of any of the sponges sampled in our survey. Previous surveys of Spheciospongia vesparium from Curaçao ( Westinga & Hoetjes 1981) did not report Synalpheus longicarpus Herrick or Synalpheus pandionis Coutière , (the closest described morphological relatives of S. dardeaui ; S. dardeaui was not described until 2007), suggesting that this species may not have been common in S. vesparium when it was abundant in shallower areas in Curaçao.