Alpheus pontederiae de Rochebrune, 1883

Pachelle, Paulo P. G., Anker, Arthur, Mendes, Cecili B. & Bezerra, Luis E. A., 2016, Decapod crustaceans from the state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil: an updated checklist of marine and estuarine species, with 23 new records, Zootaxa 4131 (1), pp. 1-63 : 9

Alpheus pontederiae de Rochebrune, 1883

Alpheus pontederiae de Rochebrune 1883: 174 .

Material examined. Brazil, Ceará: 1 female (in poor condition), LABOMAR-UFC 429, Fortaleza, Rio Cocó estuary, coll. unknown, 07.vi.1981.

Distribution. Western Atlantic: Venezuela and Brazil (Pará, Maranhão, Ceará, Paraíba, Alagoas, Bahia , São Paulo, Paraná); Eastern Atlantic: Senegal to Congo ( Christoffersen 1984, 1998; Coelho et al. 2006; Almeida et al. 2013a; Soledade & Almeida 2013; present study).

Remarks. Alpheus pontederiae is a fairly large snapping shrimp (total length up to 60 mm) associated with estuarine and mangrove habitats of the western and eastern Atlantic ( Christoffersen 1984). The species appears to be common and widespread in Brazil (see Soledade & Almeida 2013); however, the present first record from Ceará is based on a single female specimen, in poor condition, collected in Fortaleza area in the 1980s. Despite our efforts (including use of suction pumps) to collect additional material of A. pontederiae , the species was not found at several estuarine sites dominated by mangroves, such as Rio Mundaú and Manguezal da Barra Grande. Alpheus pontederiae seems to prefer low salinity areas upstream (Almeida et al. 2012) and may also be found in deeper water (below 2 m), which would require other collecting techniques, such as small dredges operated from a fishing boat (A. Anker, pers. obs.).