Synalpheus yano ( Ríos & Duffy, 2007 ), Rios & Duffy, 2007

Anker, Arthur & Pachelle, Paulo P. G., 2014, Taxonomic notes on some Brazilian species of Synalpheus Spence Bate, 1888, with new records and description of a new species (Decapoda, Alpheidae), Zootaxa 3815 (2), pp. 215-232 : 227

Synalpheus yano ( Ríos & Duffy, 2007)

( Figs. 7 , 8 )

Zuzalpheus yano Ríos & Duffy 2007: 69 , figs 31–34, pl. 5.

Synalpheus yano — Hernáez et al. 2010: 692, fig. 2; Hultgren et al. 2010: 234; Anker et al. 2012: 76, fig. 50. Not Synalpheus yano— Macdonald et al. 2009: 51, pl. 6A, B (= S. ul, see Hultgren & Duffy 2010: p. 3).

Material examined. 2 ov. females (cl 4.3 mm, 3.5 mm), Brazil, Ceará, ~ 15 km N-NE of Fortaleza, scuba diving, in coral rubble, coll. C. Cerqueira & M. Soares, 21.IV.2013 [ MZUSP 31142]; 1 male (cl 3.9 mm), same collection data as for previous specimens [ MZUSP 31141]; 1 ov. female (cl ~ 4.5 mm), USA, Florida, N-NW of St. Petersburg, south of Big Bend area, station FI02012-01, 28.55667 N - 84.2745 W, dredge, hard bottom, rocks and coral rubble, depth: 26–30 m, coll. J. Slapcinsky, 24.V.2012 [ FLMNH UF 31631].

Description. See Ríos & Duffy (2007) for description and illustrations and Anker et al. (2012) for colour photographs; comparative illustrations of the Brazilian material and an additional colour photograph of a specimen from western Florida are provided in Figs. 7 , 8 .

Distribution. Western Atlantic: Gulf of Mexico ( Mexico: Alacranes Reef, USA: western Florida); Caribbean Sea ( Belize, Panama, Jamaica); Brazil (Ceará) ( Ríos & Duffy 2007; Anker et al. 2012; present study).

Ecology. Synalpheus yano is an obligate sponge symbiont (see Anker et al. 2012 for all sponge records); all specimens from Ceará and the single specimen from Florida were extracted from coral rubble that likely contained cryptic host sponges.

Remarks. The present material represents the first record of Synalpheus yano in Brazil and the southwestern Atlantic (MZUSP material), as well as USA and the eastern Gulf of Mexico (FLMNH UF material). This species is closely related to Synalpheus pandionis Coutière, 1909 and Synalpheus ul, which both also occur in Brazil ( Almeida et al. 2012; Anker et al. 2012; see also above), but can be separated from them by the absence of a scaphocerite blade, and from S. pandionis also by the absence of a rounded protuberance on the mesial face of the major chela.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Synalpheus yano (Ríos & Duffy, 2007), male (cl 3.9 mm) from off Fortaleza, Brazil [MZUSP 31141]: A—frontal region, dorsal; B—abdomen, lateral; C—telson, dorsal; D—major (left) cheliped, lateral; E—same, chela, mesial; F—minor (right) cheliped, lateral; G—same, carpus and chela, mesial; H—second pereiopod, lateral; I—third pereiopod, lateral; J—same, distal propodus and dactylus, lateral; K—uropod, dorsal.

FIGURE 8. Synalpheus yano (Ríos & Duffy, 2007): A—ovigerous female (cl 4.3 mm) from Ceará, Brazil [MZUSP 31142], lateral view; B—ovigerous female (cl ~ 4.5 mm) from St. Petersburg area, western Florida, USA [FLMNH UF 31631]: dorsolateral view. Photographs courtesy of F. Monteiro (A) and J. Slapcinsky (B).