Aristeus Duvernoy, 1840

Tavares, Carolina R. & Serejo, Cristiana S., 2007, Taxonomy of Aristeidae (Dendrobranchiata: Penaeoidea) from the central coast of Brazil, collected by the Revizee program, between 19 º and 22 ºS, Zootaxa 1585, pp. 1-44 : 14

Genus Aristeus Duvernoy, 1840

Integument glabrous or pubescent; photophores present on pereopods. Rostrum elongate in females and juvenile males, reaching well beyond antennular peduncle; short in adult males, not reaching end of antennuar peduncle; bearing two dorsal teeth near base followed by single postrostral tooth. Carapace with antennal and branchiostegal more or less well marked short carina; orbital, postantennal, and hepatic spines absent; postrostral carina variable, reaching as far as midlength of carapace in some species; cervical sulcus indistinct or only ventrolaterally demarked; hepatic sulcus often faint or indistinct; branchiocardiac sulcus well marked; branchiocardiac carina low. Eye with well developed cornea; optic calathus bearing large mesiodistal tubercle. Dorsal antennular flagellum short, flattened for almost of its length; ventral antennular flagellum elongate, slender, terete, with proximal sinuosity in male. Scaphocerite lamella distally broadly rounded, lateral marginal ridge with spine at about distal four-fifths of length.

Pereopods lacking exopods; first and second pereopods, sometimes third, with movable meral spines; fourth and fifth pereopods slender. Thelycum open, with shieldlike median protuberance on sternite XII; sternite XIII broadly rectangular, slightly hollowed.

Petasma with broad, distally rounded lateral lobule, slightly to considerably surpassing median lobule; ventral costa unattached to adjacent flexible part for variable fraction of its length, and not produced into hook. First abdominal somite dorsally rounded; second and third somite dorsally rounded or very faint rounded carina; fourth to sixth somites dorsally carinate, carina of fourth somite extending along posterior two-thirds. Telson bearing four pairs of movable spines; apex acute, slender (modified from Pérez Farfante & Kensley, 1997).

Remarks: The two species of Aristeu s studied herein have their gills and epipods distributed in different ways, as shown in table 1. Aristeus antennatus has an epipod on somite XII and a podobranchia on somite XI, while in Aristeus antillensis these structures are absent in these somites. As this pattern was observed in all specimens examined herein, is clear that this is an intra-specific variation in Aristeus . Thus, carefully examination and description of gills and epipods are recommended for this group.