♣ Mesokalliapseudes bahamensis Sieg, 1982

Material examined. TA: 150 individuals. CNCR 34804. Tr-Loc: Madagascar, Yucatan, Mexico, 21°26’30.12’’N 90°17’25.9’’W, six individuals, 29 May 2012, coll . GR, IW, MA, UP, collected at 15 m depth; Tr-Loc: Sisal, Yucatan, Mexico, 21°20’54.4’’N 90°08’52.5’’W, three individuals, 30 May 2012, coll . GR, IW, MA, UP, collected at 9 m depth; Tr-Loc: Tanchit, Yucatan, Mexico, 21°21’53.3’’N 90°04’05.4’’W, 25 individuals, 31 May 2012, coll . GR, IW, MA, UP, collected at 8 m depth; Tr-Loc: Bajo Diez, Yucatan, Mexico, 21°20’50.8’’N 90°08’53.0’’W, 23 individuals, 04 June 2012, coll . GR, IW, MA, UP, collected at 11 m depth; Tr-Loc: Bocacha, Yucatan, Mexico, 21°19’17.3’’N 90°20’02.6’’W, 92 individuals, 04 June 2012, coll . GR, IW, MA, UP, collected at 8 m depth; Tr-Loc: Bocana, Yucatan, Mexico, 21°13’56.5’’N 89°53’20.1’’W, one individual, 06 June 2012, coll . GR, IW, MA, UP, collected at 1 m depth .

Local distribution. Consult Cházaro-Olvera et al. (2018).

Geographical distribution. Atlantic Ocean: coastal waters from South Carolina to southeast Florida, Isla El Salvador, Bahamas; GoM: Veracruz Reef System National Park, Bajos de Sisal Reef System; Caribbean Sea: Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, Puerto Morelos Reef National Park, Quintana Roo.

Recognition characters. Rounded rostrum; without eyes; mandibular palp, maxilliped and chela with carpus and propodus with a row of long plumose setae on inner margin; mandibular palp with one simple terminal setae; chela with fixed finger less than a third of the length of the dactylus.

Remarks. It inhabits the first 100 m perpendicular to the shoreline, associated with seagrasses such as Thalassia Banks ex König, coral reefs, algae such as Caulerpa racemosa (Forsskål) J, Agardh, D. delicatula, D. dichotoma, Hypnea spinella (C.Agardh) Kützing, cnidarians such as Pterogorgia guadalupensis Duchassaing & Michelin, sponges such as C. foliacea, in coral rubble, sand, mud and silt, at depths 3 to 52 m. It is a filter-feeder species, consuming fine particles.

References. Sieg (1982); Heard et al. (2004); Guţu (2006); Heard & Anderson (2009); Drumm & Heard (2010); Drumm & Heard (2011); Winfield et al. (2013); Monroy-Velázquez et al. (2017); Winfield et al. (2017); Cházaro- Olvera et al. (2018); Stępień et al. (2018).