Alpheus hippothoe De Man, 1888

Dehghani, Amir, Sari, Alireza & Naderloo, Reza, 2019, Annotated checklist of the snapping shrimps of the genus Alpheus Fabricius, 1798 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae) from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, Iran, Zootaxa 4544 (4), pp. 479-504 : 486

Alpheus hippothoe De Man, 1888

( Fig. 3 E–F)

Alpheus hippothoe edamensis De Man, 1888a: 518 .

Alpheus edamensis De Man, 1911:437 , fig. 107; Banner & Banner, 1966b: 157, fig. 61.

Alpheus acanthomerus Ortmann, 1890: 474 , pl. 36, fig. 12.

Material examined. PG: 5 males, 2 ovig. females ( ZUTC 6708 ), Abu-Musa I., sandy/boulder shores, Coll. R. Naderloo and A. Dehghani, 10 Oct. 2017 ; 1 male, 1 female ( SMF 51381), Abu-Musa I., sandy/boulder shores, Coll. R. Naderloo and A. Dehghani, 10 Oct. 2017 ; GO: 2 males, 2 ovig. females ( ZUTC 6709 ), Chabahar Bay , Tis, in large rocks and coral rubble, Coll. A. Dehghani, 2 Oct. 2016 .

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific: PG, GO, Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Samoa, and Australia.

Regional records. PG and GO: Iran (present study).

Habitat. In crevices of massive dead corals and rocks, also found in rubble, often in lower intertidal to over 5 m deep.

Remarks. This species is similar to A. serenei Tiwari, 1964 ( Anker & De Grave, 2016). Based on Banner & Banner (1982), the main characteristics separating A. hippothoe from A. serenei are the “absence of both flattened area in front of orbital hoods and setiferous crest on the medial side of the small chela dactylus”. In contrast, both characteristics are more prominent in A. serenei . All specimens from the PG and GO show these key characteristics of A. hippothoe . In addition, this species bears no minute supplementary notch on the dactylus of third pereiopods. While it present in A. serenei ( Anker & De Grave, 2016) . A molecular analysis and detailed comparison of color patterns may shed light to proper identification of A. hippothoe and A. serenei .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Alpheus edwardsii (Audouin, 1826), A. Male (CL. 9 mm); B. Female (CL. 9 mm), Abu-Musa Island. Alpheus gracilis Heller, 1861, C. Male (CL. 8.5 mm); D. Female (CL. 8.3 mm), Abu-Musa Island. Alpheus hippothoe De Man, 1888, E. Male (CL. 9.1 mm); F. Female (CL. 9.2 mm), Abu-Musa Island.