Study On The Taxonomy And Zoogeography Of The Hippolytidae (Crustacea: Decapoda) Of China Seas

The Family Hippolytidae belongs to Infraorder Caridea, Order Decapoda,Subphylum Crustacea. It is a very important macrobenthic crustacean group. Mostspecies are intertidal or in shallow water among algae, rocks, corals or sea anemones.There are many problems in the classification of hippolytid shrimps according to itsworldwide distribution, complex habitat and high morphological diversity. However,the systematic study of Hippolotidae in China is poor. A comprehensive research onthe taxonomy and geographical distribution of the Hippolytidae from China seas israther needed. This study is mainly based on the hippolytid shrimp collections in theMarine Biological Museum of Chinese Academy of Sciences. More than800specimens collected by national or regional marine surveys since1950’s from all theChinese waters have been sorted and identified.All specimens were observed under optical microscope, and identifiedmorphologically. Finally,13genera and30species are identified, in which,4species(Eualus heterodactylus sp. nov.; Thinora leptochelus sp. nov.; Thor hainanensis sp.nov.; Thor singularis sp. nov.) are new to science and2(Eualus kikuchii Miyake&Hayashi,1967; Heptacarpus commensalis Hayashi,1979) are recorded for the firsttime from the China seas.Through the detailed account of the distribution of each hippolytid shrimpspecies in China seas, the general situation of the geographical distribution of Chinesehippolytid shrimp was summarized.4genera and10species are distributed in theBohai Sea;6genera and18species are distributed in the Yellow Sea;6genera and9species are distributed in the East China Sea;9genera and16species are distributedin the South China Sea. Lysmata vittata (Stimpson,1860), Latreutes anoplonyx Kemp,1914and Latreutes planirostris (De Haan,1844) are widely distributed from north to south in China seas.In addition, the mistakes in the former records were corrected through detailedidentification and analysis. Heptacarpus camtschaticus (Stimpson,1860) was notexisted in China seas and the checked specimens should be Heptacarpusacuticarinatus Komai&Ivanov,2008.Study on the taxonomy of the hippolytid shrimp of China seas is provided in thisthesis: new species and new records are found; the previous domestic recording errorsare corrected; detailed descriptions and illustrations, as well as the characteristics ofthe geographical distribution are updated and listed to all the30checked species.Keys to the species for the studied genera are also given. This systematic revision ofthe Chinese hippolytid fauna provides basic information for subsequent researches ofphylogeny of caridean shrimp, Chinese shrimp fauna, benthic ecology, marineenvironmental evaluation and biological resource preservation.