Palaemonidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) from the shallow waters from Quintana Roo, Mexican Caribbean coast

Abstract

Few studies have focused on the palaemonid fauna of the Mexican Caribbean. This study provides a list of shallow water free-living and symbiont shrimps of the family Palaemonidae collected on turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) in Bahía de la Ascensión, Bahía del Espíritu Santo and Mahahual reef lagoon, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Ten species in 8 genera are reported, of which the genus Periclimenes is the most diverse with 3 species. An updated geographic distribution along the western Atlantic and other regions is provided for all the species. The greatest affinity of the palaemonid fauna studied, besides that with the Caribbean province, is with the Brazilian, Argentinian, and Texan zoogeographic provinces. Of the 10 species reported in this paper, 8 represent new local records in the studied area.