Revision of theAlpheus cristulifronsspecies complex (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae), with description of a new species from the tropical eastern Atlantic

Abstract

The taxonomy of the snapping shrimpAlpheus cristulifronsRathbun, 1900, previously reported from the eastern Pacific and western and eastern Atlantic, is reviewed based on molecular data (COI), morphology and colour patterns. Three species are recognized in theA. cristulifronsspecies complex.Alpheus cristulifrons sensu strictois restricted to the western Atlantic, ranging from Florida and the Caribbean Sea to southern Brazil. The eastern PacificA. cristulifrons sensuKim & Abele, 1988 corresponds toA. utriensisRamos & Von Prahl, 1989, ranging from the Gulf of California to Colombia; this species can be separated fromA. cristulifronsby the absence of balaeniceps setae on the male minor chela and the presence of bands on the antennular and antennal flagella. The eastern AtlanticA. cristulifronssensuCrosnier & Forest, 1966 is described asA. xanthocarpussp. nov. based on recently collected material from the island of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea; this species differs fromA. cristulifronsby the posteriorly more extending rostral carina and the presence of conspicuous yellow spots on the carpus and chela of the second pereiopod. Molecular data suggest thatA. utriensisis the eastern Pacific sister clade to the amphi-Atlntic clade that includesA. cristulifronsandA. xanthocarpussp. nov.