AMERICAN SOLENOCERID SHRIMPS OF THE GENERA 



HYMENOPENAEUS, HALIP0R01DES, PLEOTICUS, 



HADROPENAEUS NEW GENUS, AND MESOPENAEUS NEW GENUS 



Isabel Perez Farfante 1 



ABSTRACT 



Twelve American species, one from Hawaii, are assigned to five genera: five to Hymenopenaeus, one 

 to Haliporoides , two to Pleoticus, three to Hadropenaeus, and one to Mesopenaeus; the latter two 

 genera are described herein. Each of the genera is defined and the relationships among them are 

 discussed. The species are described in detail mostly on the bases of collections made in the western 

 Atlantic and eastern Pacific during cruises of 29 exploratory vessels. For each species a diagnosis, 

 illustrations, references, disposition of types, locality records, and geographic as well as bathymetric 

 ranges are provided. The affinities of each species are indicated, and variations of several morpho- 

 logical and morphometric characters are analyzed. Keys for the identification of all taxa are given. 

 Photophores were discovered in Hadropenaeus affinis, here recognized as a distinct species, and 

 Mesopenaeus tropicalis. The spermatophores of three, Pleoticus robustus, P. muelleri, and M. tropicalis 

 (those of the latter previously unknown), are described and their mode of attachment to the females 

 is discussed. The range of Hymenopenaeus debilis was found to extend south of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 through the Caribbean to Guyana, and that of H. aphoticus to include the Caribbean. Pleoticus 

 muelleri is now known to occur north of the state of Rio de Janeiro, off Espfrito Santo, and Hadro- 

 penaeus affinis is newly reported from the southeast Atlantic coast of the United States, where it 

 ranges as far north as Cape Lookout, N.C. 



This work is part of a continuing study of the 

 systematics and distribution of the American 

 members of the superfamily Penaeoidea. Exten- 

 sive collections made during cruises of 26 explora- 

 tory vessels provided excellent series of specimens 

 from the western Atlantic. In contrast, the 

 material available from the tropical and sub- 

 tropical eastern Pacific (including that obtained 

 during cruises of three exploratory vessels) is 

 rather meager and these waters still remain 

 appallingly unexplored, particularly beyond the 

 100-m contour. Few benthic collections from the 

 latter region have been deposited in American 

 institutions since the expeditions of the Albatross 

 in 1889 and 1891. The only major ones are those 

 resulting from the explorations sponsored by the 

 Allan Hancock Foundation and Scripps Institu- 

 tion of Oceanography among which no member of 

 the genera investigated in the present project has 

 been found. 



The only species treated here from waters not 

 adjacent to the American continent is one which 



'Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 NOAA, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 

 20560. 



Manuscript accepted November 1976. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 2, 1977. 



ranges throughout the Indo-West Pacific, reach- 

 ing Hawaii. This shrimp is included because it is 

 the third member of a new genus, the other two 

 being found off American shores. Inasmuch as the 

 Hawaiian population of the species has not been 

 adequately described and because numerous 

 specimens from the area are available to me, a 

 detailed account of its morphology is presented. 



The five genera treated in this paper, together 

 with Solenocera and Haliporus, constitute the 

 family Solenoceridae, a group that has been pre- 

 viously considered one of the four subfamilies of 

 Penaeidae. I am of the opinion that because of the 

 basic differences among these four suprageneric 

 groups they should be elevated to the category of 

 families, i.e., Aristeidae, Solenoceridae, Penaei- 

 dae, and Sicyoniidae, as has been defended by 

 Perez Farfante (in press). The western Atlantic 

 species of Solenocera (the other genus of Soleno- 

 ceridae which is present in the region, in addition 

 to four of those discussed here) were recently 

 monographed by Perez Farfante and Bullis 

 (1973). 



In the diagnoses of the genera and descriptions 

 of the 12 species discussed here, many morpho- 

 logical characters have been studied in order to 

 base relationships at generic and specific levels. 



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