A new species of Alpheus (Decapoda: Caridea: Alpheidae) from the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

A. new snapping shrimp, Alpheus hortensis, n. sp., of the A. macrocheles species group is described from the northern Gulf of Mexico. The new species most closely resembles A. crockeri, but differs from the latter in having shorter fingers of the minor chela, lacking a spine overhanging the articulation of the dactylus of the minor chela, and having longer inferolateral spines of the telson. The new species is yellow in life, and lives subtidally among rocks and coral rubble.