AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS Banner, Dora M., and Albert H. Banner, 1973. The alpheid shrimp of Australia. Part I. The lower genera. Records of the Australian Museum 28(15): 291–382. [5 July 1973]. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.28.1973.407 ISSN 0067-1975 Published by the Australian Museum, Sydney naturenature cultureculture discover discover AustralianAustralian Museum Museum science science is is freely freely accessible accessible online online at at www.australianmuseum.net.au/publications/www.australianmuseum.net.au/publications/ 66 CollegeCollege Street,Street, SydneySydney NSWNSW 2010,2010, AustraliaAustralia THE ALPHEID SHRIMP OF AUSTRALIA Part I: The Lower Genera By DORA M. and ALBERT H. BANNER Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu Figures 1-19. Manuscript received 7th September, 1971. This stud:J is dedicated to the memory rif our son, Alan Conrad Banner, who, while serving in the United States Peace Corps, was killed in a shark attack at Aliepata, Western Samoa, on 15th April, 1972. At the age rif 25, Alan was training to become a marine biologist as he wished to contribute to the development rif the potential tropical marine fisheries to aid the island peoples rif the Pacific. SUMMARY This is the first section of a three-part monograph on the alpheid shrimp of Australia. The study is based upon a collection of 5,000 to 6,000 specimens, in part on loan from various institutions and individuals and in part collected by the authors. For each species recognitional characteristics are described and depicted, notes are given on taxonomy, variation, and biology, and the Australian and world distribution is listed. The present paper deals with lower genera; the future two papers will deal with Synalpheus and Alpheus respectively. This paper discusses the following genera and species, those species marked with an asterisk being either new species or new records for the Australian continent: *Automate dolichognatha De Man *Athanas aretiformis Coutiere Athanas djiboutensis Coutiere Rec. Aust. Mus., 28, page 291. 457t2 .. A 292 *Athanas japonicus Kubo *Athanas locincertus sp. novo *Athanas dimorphus Ortmann Athanas haswelli Coutiere Athanas granti Coutiere *Athanas ornithorhynchus sp. novo *Athanas sibogae De Man *Athanas dorsalis (Stimpson) Athanas indicus Coutiere *Aretopsis amabilis De Man *Salmoneus tricristatus Banner Alpheopsis trispinosus (Stimpson) [neotype established] *Alpheopsis undicola sp. novo *Alpheopsis equalis Coutiere *Alpheopsis yaldwyni sp. novo Betaeus australis Stimpson [neotype established] *Racilius compressus Paulson In addition to these records of new species and neotypes, we have placed the following species in synonymy: Automate gardineri Coutiere (= A. dolichognatha de Man) Athanas setoensis Kubo (= A. dimorphus Ortmann) Athanas dimorphus seedang (= A. dimorphus Ortmann) Aretopsis aegyptica Ramadan (= A. amabilis de Man) We have accepted A. sibogae as the proper name for A. parvus, based on page priority (see Banner and Banner, 1960 and Miya and Miyake, 1968). CONTENTS Page Introduction .. 294 Adequacy of Sampling 294 General Notes on Alpheid Shrimp 295 General Distribution and Ecology 296 Support and Acknowledgements 297 The Family Alpheidae 298 Key to the Genera 298 The Genus Automate .. 299 A. dolichognatha De Man 299 The Genus Athanas .. 30 3 Key to the Species 30 3 A. aretiformis Coutiere 30 4 A. djiboutensis Coutiere .. 306 A. japonicus Kubo 308 A. locincertus sp. novo 3II A. dimorphus Ortmann 313 A. haswelli Coutiere 316 A. granti Coutiere 316 A. ornithorhynchus sp. novo 319 A. sibogae De Man 321 A. dorsalis (Stimpson) 324 A. indicus (Coutiere) 32 7 The Genus Aretopsis .. 330 A. amabilis De Man 330 The Genus Salmoneus .. 334 S. tricristatus Banner 334 The Genus Alpheopsis 336 Key to the Species 337 A. trispinosus (Stimpson) [neotype established] 337 A. undicola sp. novo 340 A. equalis Coutiere 342 A. yaldwyni sp. novo 344 The Genus Betaeus 347 B. australis Stimpson [neotype established] 347 The Genus Racilius .. 350 R. compressus Paulson 350 Appendix-Locality Lists for the Alpheid collection 353 294 INTRODUCTION The snapping or pistol shrimp were previously put into a single family, the Alpheidae (Crangonidae of some authors from I904 to I955). This family was united with the Hippolytidae and a newly created family, the monogeneric Ogyridae, into the superfamily Alpheoida by Holthuis in I 955; the superfamily belongs to the section Caridae and the supersection Natantia of the order Decapoda. The hippolytids have not been closely associated with the alpheids; however, the genus Ogyrides Stebbing (Ogyris Stimpson) was considered to be within the family Alpheidae until its separation by Holthuis. For that reason we will append notes on Ogyrides mJoebergi (Balss) from Australia at the end of the monograph. This study, which will cover all species previously reported from Australian waters as well as our new records and new species, will be issued in three parts; this initial portion is confined to the lower genera, but contains the locality records for the entire paper as well as the key to the genera. We plan the second section to contain nothing but the species of the genus Synalpheus, and the third will be devoted to Australian species of the genus Alpheus. In the third section we will also have the bibliography for the entire study and a discussion of Australian distribution of all the species with respect to Australian faunal provinces. Our primary purpose for studying the Australian alpheids is as a part of a continuing study of coral reef biota in the tropical Indo-Pacific in which we will use these abundant shrimp as index organisms to indicate broad zoogeographic realms and provinces. Our second purpose is to provide future workers in Australia with a monographic guide to these shrimp in their waters. For the first aim, a simple species list with localities and descriptions of new species would have been adequate; however, for later workers we have provided keys, descriptions, illustrations, and references to all important descriptive works on the species as well as all previously published Australian records. We have given reported world distribution for each species and have added such biological notes as available. Adequacy of Salllpling Previous to this work 30 species from the family had been recorded from Australia in the literature; this work will increase the number to about lOO (this total is approximate, as the final work on Synalpheus and Alpheus is yet to be done). Our study collection was primarily on loan from each of the Australian museums. We also received specimens from many of the universities and from individuals (see Acknowledgements below). These collections we were able to supplement by personal collections made in Australia during three months in 1967-68. The total collections available amounted to between 5,000 and 6,000 individual specimens. Our collections have come from every State in Australia, as well as Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. We have not included any records from New Zealand or New Guinea, although some of the museum collections include specimens from those localities. As large as is this total, we have no hope that we have seen every species occurring off the coasts of the sub-continent, or that we have been able to delimit the extent of distribution for any species. The degree that these collections will represent the alpheid fauna will vary with region, for as any Australian worker knows the fauna of the Great Barrier Reef is more thoroughly sampled than that on reefs of the Northern Territory and the northern part of Western Australia. We also had but few samples from the Great Australian Bight, but whether that was solely because of the infrequency of collecting there, or whether the infrequency of collection was combined with an expected paucity of shrimp, we do not know. 295 In all, we hope that we have almost all of those species that occur normally in the usually examined habitats. We would hazard, from the basis of our previous studies, that we are reporting on perhaps ninety per cent of the species that eventually will be known from Australia. However, there are still many habitats, such as deeper muddy bottoms, that may yield many unrecorded species. We hope that with the tool that this monograph may be, future workers will be able to make the listing more exhaustive. General Notes on Alpheid ShriInp The definition of the family is given on p. 298; here it will suffice to state that, while the lower genera of the family may be difficult to recognize except by careful examination under the microscope, the two higher genera Synalpheus and Alpheus almost always can be recognized by the excessive size and asymmetrical development of their large chelae. In these two genera, the dactylus (free finger) of this chela carries a rounded plunger that can be thrust into a socket at the base of the fixed finger; the violent closure of the chela produces a loud snapping, clearly audible under water and even when the hearer is out of water and walking across a tide flat. The mechanism of this sound production has been somewhat controversial (see Knowlton and Moulton, 1963) but Bowers, 1970, believes the primary production of sound is the actual meeting of the tips of the fingers, while the adhesive plaques on the opposing surfaces of the superior surface of the dactylus and end of propodus are a suction device to increase muscular tension, and the plunger-socket is for the propulsion of a forceful jet of water. Both of the higher genera, and, to a lesser degree, the lower genera, have short stalked compound eyes covered by a forward extension of their carapace; this characteristic, however, is of little use in the field, for in life the extension is transparent and the eyes are fully visible. The species are usually small in size, seldom exceeding 20 to 30 mm in length; many are only 5 mm long when mature.