JEREMY GAY
9 HOURS AGO
A new species of snapping shrimp has been described based on two specimens collected in the Maldives. Alpheus octocellatus appears to be morphologically most similar to Alpheus edwardsii, pareuchirus and leptochirus so the paper’s authors have placed it in the edwardsii group, but it can be distinguished from all of them by a combination of morphological characters, mainly involving the chelipeds, third maxilliped, and pleonal sternites.
The new species also has a highly diagnostic color pattern, with four pairs of conspicuous eyespots distributed in a unique and peculiar pattern on the pleon, which gives it its specific name. One male and one female were collected on shallow-water reef flats off the Southern Ari Atoll in the Maldives, with a photographic record from Cebu in the Philippines. It has been described by Arthur Anker and F. Benzoni, and published in the journal Zootaxa, doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5271.3.7.
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Alpheus octocellatus is a New Species of Pistol Shrimp from the Maldives | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
A new species of snapping shrimp has been described based on two specimens collected in the Maldives. Alpheus octocellatus appears to be morphologically most similar to Alpheus edwardsii…
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