Hoplopolemius propinquus (Richardson 1902)

Examined material. TA: three individuals. CNCR 34800–34801. Tr-Loc: M41- Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico 20°51’43.56’’N 90°24’4.179’’W, one ♀, 7 May 2005, 26 November 2005, 11 March 2006, coll. AV, SP ; Tr-Loc: M50-Chabihau, Yucatan, Mexico 21°22’4.329’’N 89°4’13.659’’W, one ♂, 20 May 2005, 27 November 2005, 12 March 2006, coll. AV, SP; Tr-Loc: M60- El Cuyo, Yucatan, Mexico 21°31’8.259’’N 87°40’41.588’’W, one ♀, 16 May 2005, 12 November 2005, 18 March 2006, coll. AV, SP; collected at depths 1.4 to 3.9 m, on coarse sand, medium sand, and fine sand

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Local distribution. (Table 1, Fig. 2).

Geographical distribution. Atlantic Ocean: Bermuda, east coast of South Carolina to Florida Keys, Turkey Islands and Caicos; GoM: northeastern, southwestern and southeastern portions, Tuxpan-Lobos Protected Natural Area, Veracruz Reef System National Park, Bajos de Sisal Reef System; Caribbean Sea: Caiman Islands, Puerto Morelos Reef National Park and coast of Quintana Roo.

Recognition characters. Rostrum with a median acute process; basis of antennule with three spines on inner margin, and one spine on the outer margin at the distal end; basis of pereopod-1 with three of four spines on inner margin. Male cheliped more robust than in female.

Remarks. It inhabits coral reefs, among cnidarians ( P. guadalupensis), sponges such as Agelas clathrodes (Schmidt), A. fistularis, Clathria (Microciona) echinata (Alcolado), Iotrochota birotulata (Higgin) and Monanchora arbuscula (Duchassaing & Michelotti) . It is also associated with algae such as C. cervicornis, D. delicatula, D. dichotoma, H. spinella, and U. lactuca, and frequently associated with mangrove roots, coral rubble, wood piles, and soft bottoms, at depths of 1 to 30 m.

References. Guţu & Iliffe (1985); Guţu (2002); Heard et al. (2004); Suárez-Morales et al. (2004); García-Madrigal et al. (2005); Heard & Anderson (2009); Winfield et al. (2013); Monroy-Velázquez et al. (2017), Winfield et al. (2017), Cházaro- Olvera et al. (2018); Stępień et al. (2018).