Alpheus panamensis Kingsley, 1878

Anker, Arthur, Hurt, Carla & Knowlton, Nancy, 2008, Revision of the Alpheus formosus Gibbes, 1850 complex, with redescription of A. formosus and description of a new species from the tropical western Atlantic (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae), Zootaxa 1707, pp. 1-22 : 4-5

Alpheus panamensis Kingsley, 1878

Figs. 7 a, b

Alpheus panamensis Kingsley 1878a: 192 ; Kingsley 1878b: 58; Lockington 1878: 473; Kingsley 1883: 113; Coutière 1899 (for page numbers see Chace & Forest 1970); Holthuis 1954: 160; Abele 1976: 271, 273; Abele & Patton 1976: 37; Kim & Abele 1988: 38; Wicksten & Hendrickx 1992: 5; Knowlton & Mills 1992: 1; Knowlton et al. 1993: 1630; Hickman & Zimmerman 2000: 44; Hermoso-Salazar & Hernández-Alcántara 2003: 1279; Wicksten & Hendrickx 2003: 64; Hendrickx & Hermoso-Salazar 2005: 433.

Crangon panamensis — Rathbun 1910: 607.

Alpheus formosus (not sensu Gibbes 1850)— Christoffersen 1979: 314 (part., specimens from E Pacific).

Not Alpheus panamensis — Pocock 1890: 519; Zimmer 1913: 391; Fausto-Filho 1974: 5 (= A. formosus Gibbes, 1850 ).

Material examined.— Panama (Pacific coast). 1 male (CL 13.2), USNM 1100691, Panama City, Casco Viejo, rocky intertidal, under rocks at extreme low tide, coll. A. Anker, C. Hurt, J. Jara and E. Tóth, 30 Mar 2006 [fcn 06-326]; 1 ovig. female (CL 14.5), USNM 1100692, same collection data as previous specimen (mated pair) [fcn 06-326]; 1 male (CL 8.9), 1 ovig. female (CL 10.5), USNM 1100693, Río Mar, rocky intertidal, under rocks at extreme low tide, coll. A. Anker, E. Gómez and J. Jara, 3 Mar 2006 [fcn 06-299]; 1 male (CL 7.6), 1 female (CL 8.6), USNM 1100694, Panama City, Casco Viejo, rocky intertidal, under rocks at low tide, coll. A. Anker et al., 30 Mar 2006 [fcn 06-303]; 1 male (CL 9.5), 1 ovig. female (CL 9.5), USNM 1100695, same collection data as previous specimens [fcn 06-302]; 15 specimens: males, females, ovig. females (CL 4.7–8.1), MNHN-Na 16358, Taboga Islands, Taboguilla, rock-rubble bottom, subtidal (less than 30 m), from rock crevices, coll. P. Barber et al., 30 Sep 2005 [fcn 05-098]; 1 juvenile specimen (sex and CL not determined), USNM 1100696, Panama City, Amador Causeway, low tide, on muddy sand under rocks, coll. N. Knowlton, A. Anker, C. Hurt and J. Jara, 29 Mar 2006 [fcn 06-310]; 1 female (CL not measured), UP, Playa Venao, rock-sand intertidal, under rocks at low tide, coll. K. Kerr, Mar 2007 [fcn 07-132].

Description.—See Kim & Abele (1988).

Size.—The largest specimen examined is an ovigerous female from Casco Viejo, Panama City, with CL 14.5 mm and TL 48.2 mm.

Color pattern.—Body brownish, with more or less intense yellow mediodorsal band extending from rostral tip to posterior margin of sixth abdominal somite; carapace with white lateral band extending from anterolateral margin to cardiac notch, continued by zigzag white band ending at sixth abdominal somite; rostrum yellow bordered by reddish brown on margins; carapace flanks below white band pale; telson and uropods brown with large yellow patches and spots; walking legs and second pereiopods purple to bluish; antennular and antennal peduncles brown with pale areas, flagella pale bluish; chelipeds orange brown to dark brown; major chela with pale patch near articulation with dactylus; dactylus and pollex distally ivory-pinkish; minor chela mostly orange-brown ( Fig. 7 a, b); eggs orange-yellow ( Fig. 7 b).

Ecology.—Rocky intertidal and shallow subtidal, to about 10 m; under rocks on mud/sand bottoms, in tide pools ( Hickman and Zimmerman 2000; present study); also among corals, Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Abele 1976; Abele & Patton 1976).

Type locality.—The original type localities were “Acajutla, Central America ” ( El Salvador), and “ Panama ”, ( Kingsley 1878a). Three syntype specimens were recently located in the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University ( MCZ 4988). Based on the original label accompanying these specimens, the type locality of A. panamensis should be restricted to Las Perlas Islands, Panama.

Distribution.—Eastern Pacific: Mexico: Michoacan ( Hermoso-Salazar & Hernández-Alcántara 2003); Oaxaca ( Hendrickx & Hermoso-Salazar 2005); Costa Rica: Guanacaste and Nicoya Gulf, Puntarenas ( Kim & Abele 1988); Panama: vicinity of Panama City (Casco Viejo, Amador, Punta Paitilla), Venado, Río Mar, Taboga and Las Perlas Islands ( Kim & Abele 1988; present study); Ecuador: La Libertad ( Kim & Abele 1988), Galapagos ( Hickman & Zimmerman 2000; Wicksten & Hendrickx 2003).

Remarks.— Alpheus panamensis is closely related to A. formosus but can be separated from the latter by the orbitorostral (= adrostral) grooves extending posteriorly to the base of the orbital hoods (vs. to the level of eye base in A. formosus ); the rostral plate being slightly broader at base; and the paler distolateral spine on the uropod (only distally tan in A. panamensis vs. usually entirely black in A. formosus ) (see also Kim & Abele, 1988). Alpheus panamensis also differs from the below-described new species, e.g., by the presence of balaeniceps setae on the fingers of the minor chela and by further posterior extension of the orbitorostral grooves (see below).

GenBank number.— EF532611 (fcn 98-163), EF532612 (fcn 05-015, to be deposited in USNM), EF532613 (fcn 05-017), AF309923 .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Color patterns of species of the Alpheus formosus Gibbes, 1850 complex: Alpheus panamensis Kingsley, 1878 [a, b]; A. formosus Gibbes, 1850 [c – e]; A. paraformosus n. sp. [f – h]: a, male from Río Mar, Panama (USNM 1100693); b, ovigerous female from La Chorrera, Panama (not preserved); c, male from Isla Grande, Panama (USNM 1100700); d, ovigerous female from Cahuita, Costa Rica (USNM 1100698); e, neotype female from Big Pine Key, Florida Keys (USNM 1100697); f, g, paratype ovigerous female from Bocas del Toro, Panama (USNM 1100705); h, holotype male from Bocas del Toro, Panama (USNM 1100703).