Alpheus edwardsii ( Audouin, 1826 )

Al-Kandari, Manal, Anker, Arthur, Hussain, Sumaiah, Al-Yassen, Sharifa, Sattari, Zainab & Grave, Sammy De, 2020, New records of decapod crustaceans from Kuwait (Malacostraca: Decapoda), Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 251-280 : 254

Alpheus edwardsii ( Audouin, 1826) sensu lato

( Fig. 2 )

Athanas Edwarsii Audouin 1826: 91 (lap. cal.).

Athanas Edwardsii. — Audouin 1827: 274.

Alpheus Edwardsii. — Coutière 1898: 249, figs. 4, 5; Nobili 1901: 2; Banner & Banner 1973a: 1141, fig. 1; Kazmi & Kazmi 1979: 154; Banner & Banner 1981: 22, 92; Banner & Banner 1982: 270, fig. 83; Lewinsohn & Galil 1982: 208; Afzal et al. 1986: 338; De Grave & Ashelby 2011: 3; Naderloo & Türkay 2012: 9; Naderloo et al. 2013: 448; Dehghani et al. 2019a: 484, fig. 3A, B.

Alpheus edwardsii sensu lato.— Anker & De Grave 2016: 352, figs. 10, 11.

(?) Alpheus Audouini Coutière 1905: 911 , pl. 87, fig. 52.

Not Alpheus edwardsii. — Al-Maliky et al. 2017: 49, figs. 2–4 [= Alpheus lobidens De Haan, 1849 ].

Material examined. Kuwait: 1 male, OUMNH. ZC. 2020.01.018, Kubbar Island , 29°04’18.93”N 48°29’18.74”E, depth 2–3 m, sand flat with sparse rubble, under coral rocks, leg. S. De Grave, 26.ix.2019 [fcn KUW-017]; 2 males, 1 female, KISR, Miscan Island , sandy-rocky intertidal, leg. M. Al-Kandari et al., 15.xii.2019 .

General distribution. Species complex (see Remarks below), reported from throughout the Indo-West Pacific, from the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf ( Iran, Kuwait, UAE) and South Africa across the Indian Ocean to Japan, Australia and French Polynesia (e.g., Banner & Banner 1973a, 1981, 1982, 1983; Chace 1988; Naderloo & Türkay 2012; Anker & De Grave 2016; Dehghani et al. 2019a; present study); Lessepsian migrant into the eastern Mediterranean Sea ( Forest & Guinot 1958; Holthuis & Gottlieb 1958).

Ecology. Variable (species complex, see below); found both in the intertidal and shallow subtidal (to at least 36 m), rocky and mixed rocky-sandy shores, also on coral reefs and associated coral rubble habitats (reef flats); typically, under large rocks and coral rubble (e.g. Banner & Banner 1982; Corfield & Alexander 1995; present study).

Remarks. Without a comprehensive revision of the A. edwardsii species complex (cf. Anker & De Grave 2016), it is impossible to apply a correct species name to the likely more than one species present in the Arabian Gulf, at least in its more biodiverse eastern part (see also Dehghani et al. 2019a). In addition, many literature records of A. edwardsii are unclear and may refer to closely or even not closely related taxa, exemplified by the regional record of Al-Maliky et al. (2017), who erroneously reported A. edwardsii as A. lobidens from Shatt Al Basra and Faw in Iraq.

The photographed male specimen from Kuwait ( Fig. 2 ) is characterised by the overall brown to brown-green colour, the presence of narrow longitudinal white streaks on the pleon flanks and two small dark spots on the dorsal surface of the third pleonite, as well as by the brightly coloured major chela, with conspicuous blue, yellow, olivegreen and red-orange areas on the mesial face of the palm. This colour pattern seems to correspond to that of the female from Iran illustrated by Dehghani et al. (2019a: fig. 3B), although the Iranian specimen is much paler and greener.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Alpheusedwardsii (Audouin, 1826) [sensu lato]:A—male from Kubbar Island, Kuwait (OUMNH.ZC.2020.01.018), dorsal view; B—same, major chela with dactylus opened. Photographs by A. Anker.