A new mud shrimp of the genus Pugnatrypaea from outer continental shelf waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico, commonly associated with hydrocarbon seeps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Callianassidae)

Abstract

A new species of callianassid mud shrimp is described from outer continental shelf waters of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, where it appears to commonly live in close association with sediments on or near natural hydrocarbon seeps. Recent genus-level taxonomic revisions of the Callianassidae, based on gene sequence analyses and comparative morphological studies, included specimens representing this new species, assigning it with strong support to the genus Pugnatrypaea Poore et al., 2019. The other known species of this genus are also typically found in offshore waters of continental shelves, but are all restricted in distribution to the Indo-West Pacific and are known from relatively few specimens. Collections of this new Gulf of Mexico representative of the genus are all from slightly deeper waters than for other known congeners, and commonly occur near hydrocarbon seeps, on some occasions being directly associated with sulfidic substrates that include waxy crude oil globules.

A new ghost shrimp of the genus Pugnatrypaea (Decapoda, Axiidea, Callianassidae) from the South China Sea

“…The morphological separation of Pugnatrypaea ruiyui sp. nov. from its congeners draws upon the work of Bate (1888) , de Man (1928a , 1928b ), Sakai (1999 ; 2010 ; 2011 ), Sepahvand et al (2015) , and Felder and Robles (2020) . The new species is closely related to P. intermedia and P. lobetobensis in lacking a proximal hook on the lower margin of the male major cheliped merus, whereas P. pugnatrix , P. iranica , and P. emanata bear a proximal hook, but it can be distinguished from latter two in having the upper margins of the meri of both chelipeds meri (versus with proximal spines).…”

“…One species, P. emanata , is from the Gulf of Mexico (Atlantic). All species occur only in relatively deep continental shelf habitats ( Felder and Robles 2020 ).…”