Zootaxa 2983: 57–68 (2011) ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2011 · Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Periclimenaeus echinimanus sp. nov. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Pontoniinae), a new species from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea ZDENĚK ĎURIŠ1, IVONA HORKÁ1,2 & FUAD AL–HORANI3,4 1 Department of Biology and Ecology, University of Ostrava, Chittussiho 10, 710 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic. E-mail:
[email protected] 2 Department of Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 44 Prague, Czech Republic. E-mail:
[email protected] 3 Marine Science Station, Aqaba, Jordan. E-mail:
[email protected] 4Faculty of Marine Sciences, University of Jordan, Aqaba, Jordan Abstract A new species of sponge-associated pontoniine shrimp from the northeastern Red Sea is described and illustrated. The new species is closely related to Periclimenaeus rhodope, but can be easily distinguished from the latter by the dense spinulation of the second pereiopod chelae. The new species is placed in the Periclimenaeus robustus species group, on account of the presence of the anterodorsal median lobe on the first abdominal segment. The new species is the first rep- resentative of the genus reported from a discrete Red Sea locality. Key words: Crustacea, Decapoda, Pontoniinae, Periclimenaeus echinimanus new species, Red Sea, sponge symbiont Introduction The majority of species of the genus Periclimenaeus are known as obligatory commensals of sponges or ascidians (Bruce, 2006a). Recent studies of sponges have revealed the presence of previously unreported small and incon- spicuous, often highly cryptic, representatives of this genus (Bruce, 2006a,b; Marin, 2007; Ďuriš et al., 2009a,b).