Mesophotic and Bathyal Palaemonid Shrimp Diversity of the Red Sea, with the Establishment of Two New Genera and Two New Species
Arthur Anker,
Silvia Vimercati,
Federica Barreca,
Fabio Marchese,
Giovanni Chimienti,
Tullia I. Terraneo,
Mattie Rodrigue,
Ameer A. Eweida,
Mohammed Qurban,
Carlos M. Duarte,
Vincent Pieribone,
Francesca Benzoni
Affiliations
Arthur Anker
Instituto de Biologia, Campus do Capão do Leão, Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL), Prédio 5, Capão do Leão 96160-100, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Silvia Vimercati
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Federica Barreca
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Fabio Marchese
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Giovanni Chimienti
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Tullia I. Terraneo
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Mattie Rodrigue
OceanX, 37 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018, USA
Ameer A. Eweida
Center of Carbonate Research, Department of Marine Geosciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA
Mohammed Qurban
National Center for Wildlife, Riyadh 11575, Saudi Arabia
Carlos M. Duarte
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Vincent Pieribone
OceanX, 37 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018, USA
Francesca Benzoni
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
The diversity and evolution of the Red Sea invertebrates in mesophotic and deep-water benthic ecosystems remain largely unexplored. The Palaemonidae is a diversified family of caridean shrimps with numerous taxa in need of taxonomic revisions based on recent molecular analyses. The Red Sea mesophotic and bathyal palaemonid shrimps are largely unstudied. During recent expeditions off the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, several palaemonid specimens were collected at a depth range of 88–494 m, spanning the mesophotic and bathyal zones. This material was examined morphologically and genetically to infer phylogenetic relationships among the Red Sea taxa and several other palaemonid genera. The concordant morphological and genetic data led to the description of two new genera and two new species. Moreover, one species was recorded in the Red Sea for the first time, with a new host record, whereas three further deep-water species, which do not occur in the Red Sea, were formally transferred to a different genus. As more exploration efforts are deployed, research on the diversity and evolutionary relationships among marine invertebrates from the Red Sea will further underline the uniqueness of its mesophotic and bathyal fauna.
