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| Potamalpheops kisi Marin, 2021 |
ABSTRACT
A new, possibly, infaunal species of the genus Potamalpheops Powell, 1979 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae), Potamalpheops kisi sp.n., is described from the intertidal mangrove swamps of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, South Vietnam. The new species clearly belongs the “P. monodi” species group, but can be easily separated from related species (P. pininsulae Bruce et Illife, 1992, P. tigger Yeo et P.K.L. Ng, 1997 and P. johnsoni Anker, 2003) by the length and shape of rostrum, the length and proportions of carpus and palm of pereiopods I and II, as well as some other minor morphological features. All individuals of the new species were pumped out of burrows in anoxic swamp mud, while no individuals were collected using a hand net during extensive sampling in the same habitats, suggesting that the new species inhabits in a burrow system. No evidence of relationship to any host species is available, since individuals of the new species were collected from different burrows and never with syntopic larger burrowing animals. Observations in situ at nighttime revealed that individuals of Potamalpheops kisi sp.n. freely move inside burrows located above the water level, similar to other mangrove semi-terrestrial shrimp Merguia oligodon, which possibly allows surviving in anoxic conditions of swamp soils; such behavior is described for the genus Potamalpheops for the first time.
KEY WORDS: Biodiversity, intertidal mangrove swamps, burrows, South Vietnam, Indo-West Pacific.
Ivan N. Marin. 2021. A New Species of the Genus Potamalpheops (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae) from the intertidal Mangrove Swamps of South Vietnam. Arthropoda Selecta. 30(2); 179-191. DOI: 10.15298/arthsel.30.2.05
