Callianassidae Dana, 1852

Wicksten, Mary K., 2012, Decapod Crustacea of the Californian and Oregonian Zoogeographic Provinces 3371, Zootaxa 3371, pp. 1-307 : 133

Family Callianassidae Dana, 1852

Until recently, all eastern Pacific ghost shrimps were considered to belong to the genus Callianassa . Manning & Felder (1991) revised the classification of genera in this family, and reassigned the species from California and Oregon to the genus Neotrypaea . Sakai (2005) continued to use the generic name Callianassa for these species.

There has been little recent work on local callianassids. Campos et al. (2009) studied the three species of Neotrypaea in northern Baja California and provided a key and an analysis of morphological features useful in identifying the species. Pernet et al. (2010) used both molecular and morphological methods to study the callianassids of southern California. These authors disagreed about the utility of using some of the morphological features presented by Campos et al. in distinguishing between the species. Although features of the major chela of males proved valuable in identification, these appendages may be lost in sampling and are not present in females or immature animals. The features of the eyestalk (presented in the key) proved most consistent in differentiation of the species. As of this writing, there have been no studies of the callianassids taken in benthic surveys of the continental shelf to determine whether or not they are the same species that occur in shallow and intertidal areas. Specimens from California and Oregon have not been compared with specimens from Mexico.

The alpheid shrimps Betaeus ensenadensis , B. harrimani and B. longidactylus , the crabs Pinnixa franciscana Rathbun, 1918 ; P. schmitti Rathbun, 1918 ; and Scleroplax granulata Rathbun, 1893 (Pinnotheridae) and the fishes Clevalandia ios ( Jordan & Gilbert, 1882) and Typhlogobius californiensis Steindacher, 1879 have been reported to live with species of the Callianassidae . Campos et al. (2009) listed all the symbiotic or parasitic species found with northeastern Pacific callianassids.