Kraussillichirus kraussi

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Kraussillichirus kraussi
Callichirus kraussi03.jpg
Callichirus kraussi02.jpg
Figure accompanying Stebbing's description
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Pleocyemata
Family: Callichiridae
Genus: Kraussillichirus
Species:
K. kraussi
Binomial name
Kraussillichirus kraussi
Stebbing, 1900
Synonyms
  • Callianassa kraussiStebbing, 1900
  • Callichirus kraussiStebbing, 1900

Kraussillichirus kraussi (Stebbing, 1900), commonly named the common sandprawn or pink prawn, is a species of ghost shrimp, an African crustacean in the family Callichiridae. [1]

Contents

Distribution and habitat

This species occurs along the coast and estuaries from Lambert's Bay in the Western Cape, around the Cape and northwards along the Indian Ocean coastline to Delagoa Bay in Mozambique. It is well-adapted to life both in the littoral zone of sheltered marine bays and of estuaries.

Taxonomy

The common sandprawn was first described in the literature by the Rev. Thomas R. R. Stebbing, an ardent Darwinist who had been banned from preaching; the type specimen was collected at "Gordon's Bay, a little below high water mark", [2] and placed in the genus Callianassa established by William Elford Leach in 1814. The species was subsequently moved to the genus Callichirus [3] and, most recently, to the genus Kraussillichirus. [4]

Description

The original description reads: [5]

"Rostrum broadly triangular, far overreached by the eyes that are oval. Antennal angle low and blunt, without spine. Antennular peduncle much longer than antennal peduncle, which it overreaches with more than half the length of the last segment. Third maxilliped with merus and ischium strongly widened to form an operculum. Carpus somewhat widened, being less than twice as long as wide; propodus strongly widened, being wider than long; dactylus slender. Large chela of adult male with a deep, but rather wide concavity in the anterior margin of the palm above the fixed finger. Carpus about as long as palm, and as long as high. Merus with a rounded lobe in basal part of lower margin. Surface of larger cheliped with numerous tubercles. Telson distinctly wider than long and much shorter than uropods, being only somewhat more than half as long as endopod. Lateral margins of telson convex, posterolateral corners rounded, posterior margin almost straight, without a spine. Endopod of uropod elongate oval."

Stebbing 1900

Ecology

Kraussillichirus kraussi plays an important role in the ecology of littoral zones by its bioturbation, which can alter sediment properties and thereby affect biofilms, microalgal and microbial levels, and meiobenthic and macrobenthic communities. Nutrients and bioturbation can also interact to shape macrofaunal communities. [6] The distribution of these prawns is dictated by sediment properties which in turn are dependent on shore height and distance from the lagoon mouth. [7] Collecting of the species as bait may reduce numbers significantly in some localities and disturb sedimentary environments. [8]

A 2010 project in the Kasouga Estuary, on the south-eastern coast of South Africa, found that this species contributed significantly to bioturbation, leading to a decline in microphytobenthic algae which in turn caused a significant decrease in numbers of the gastropod Nassarius kraussianus . [9] Another study in the Swartvlei estuary found that dense growth of the seagrass Zostera capensis and large numbers of burrowing bivalves led to a marked decrease in sandprawn numbers. [10]

Cryptic species

DNA sequence data indicate that Kraussillichirus kraussi comprises between four [11] and six [12] distinct evolutionary lineages that may represent morphologically indistinguishable sister species. Their ranges are linked to southern African marine biogeographical provinces or the biogeographical transition zones that separate them, [12] with the tropical lineage on the north-east coast being the most distinct. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dendrobranchiata</span> Suborder of prawns

Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea, by the branching form of the gills and by the fact that they do not brood their eggs, but release them directly into the water. They may reach a length of over 330 millimetres (13 in) and a mass of 450 grams (1.0 lb), and are widely fished and farmed for human consumption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malacostraca</span> Largest class of crustaceans

Malacostraca is the second largest of the six classes of pancrustaceans behind insects, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, prawns, woodlice, amphipods, mantis shrimp, tongue-eating lice and many other less familiar animals. They are abundant in all marine environments and have colonised freshwater and terrestrial habitats. They are segmented animals, united by a common body plan comprising 20 body segments, and divided into a head, thorax, and abdomen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isopoda</span> Order of arthropods

Isopoda is an order of crustaceans. Members of this group are called isopods and include both aquatic species, and terrestrial species such as woodlice. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and five pairs of branching appendages on the abdomen that are used in respiration. Females brood their young in a pouch under their thorax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diastylidae</span> Family of crustaceans

Diastylidae is one of the eight most commonly recognised families of crustaceans of the order Cumacea. They are marine creatures especially common around the 30th parallel north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodotriidae</span> Family of crustaceans

Bodotriidae is a family of crustaceans belonging to the order Cumacea. Bodotriids have a worldwide distribution in shallow and deep waters. There are over 380 described species in over 30 genera, being the most diverse cumacean family. Their external morphology differs from other cumaceans by a combination of traits that independently are not unique to the family: the telson is fused to the last abdominal segment, the dorsal part of the mandible has a boat shape (naviculoid), exopods exist on the third maxilliped and the first peraeopod, and there is a uropodal endopod with one or two articles.

Gynodiastylidae is one of the eight most commonly recognised families of crustaceans of the order Cumacea. They are especially prevalent in the southern hemisphere, with some types described from Japan, Thailand and the Persian Gulf. Most are found at less than 100 metres (330 ft) depth.

<i>Nototropis falcatus</i> Species of amphipod crustacean

Nototropis falcatus is a species of amphipod crustacean. It is whitish in colour, with brown patches, and grows to a total length of around 7 mm (0.3 in). It lives on soft sediment such as fine sand at depths of 10 to 50 metres, from northern Norway to the west coast of Ireland, including the North Sea, and as far south as the southern Bay of Biscay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrimp</span> Decapod crustaceans

A shrimp (pl.: shrimp or shrimps is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – typically belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchiata of the order Decapoda, although some crustaceans outside of this order are also referred to as "shrimp".

<i>Albunea carabus</i> Species of crustacean

Albunea carabus is a rare species of "sand crab" or "mole crab" in the family Albuneidae. It lives in shallow, turbulent waters in sandy areas of the tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Palaemonella burnsi is a species of shrimp in the family Palaemonidae, from Maui, Hawaii. This species is closest to Palaemonella lata, which it resembles in the broad scaphocerite in which the lamella overreaches the final tooth, and in the unarmed merus of the second pereiopods. It differs from P. lata in the much longer fused part of the two branches of the upper antennular flagellum, in the relatively much longer fingers and shorter palm of the second legs, in the unarmed carpus of the second legs. It is named after John A. Burns, Governor of Hawaii, for declaring the Ahiki Kinau area a nature reserve.

Periclimenes pholeter, is a species of shrimp belonging to the family Palaemonidae. The species is closest to Periclimenes indicus, P. obscurus and P. toloensis, resembling these species in the presence of an epigastric tooth on the carapace, the shape of the abdomen, the spinulation of the carapace, and the unarmed fingers of the first chelipeds. P. pholeter most resembles P. indicus by the elongatecarpus and long fingers of the second pereiopods, differing in these features from P. toloensis, which has the fingers slightly less than half as long as the palm. In P. obscurus the fingers are shorter than the palm, but the carpus is about as long as the palm. From P. indicus, this species differs: by the greater size; by the much higher rostrum and the greater number of ventral rostral teeth; by the shorter eye; by the less slender antennular peduncle; by the more deeply cleft upper antennular flagellum; by the more robust scaphocerite; by the fingers of the first pereiopods ; by the more slender pereiopods, especially the fifth, which is much longer than the ischium.

Synalpheus microneptunus is a species of small snapping shrimp native to the waters off the island of Barbados. It is one of at least seven known species of eusocial shrimp. They are cryptofauna, living exclusively within the network of tunnels in the sponges Neopetrosia proxima and Neopetrosia subtriangularis. They form small colonies of six to fifteen individuals, usually with only a single breeding female.

<i>Alpheus fasqueli</i> Species of crustacean

Alpheus fasqueli is a crustacean belonging to the family of snapping shrimp. It was first isolated in Sri Lanka. It counts with a setose carapace, an acute and carinate rostrum, and unarmed orbital hoods. Its basicerite has a strong ventrolateral tooth. The lamella of its scaphocerite is not reduced. Its third maxilliped counts with an epipodial plate bearing thick setae, while its first chelipeds are found with their merus bearing a strong disto-mesial tooth; its third pereiopod has an armed ischium, with a simple and conical dactylus. Its telson is broad, distally tapering, with 2 pairs of dorsal spines. The species is named after Frédéric Fasquel, a photographer who contributed rare shrimp specimens for the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.

<i>Sinocorophium hangangense</i> Species of crustacean

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<i>Heteromysis</i> Genus of crustaceans

Heteromysis is a genus of marine mysid crustaceans from the family Mysidae, associated with various shallow-water invertebrates. The name describes differentiation of its pereiopods as possible adaptation to commensal life-style. Heteromysis is one of the largest mysid genera, containing more than 100 species. The genus is distributed globally, but predominantly in tropical and subtropical waters.

Boreomysinae is a subfamily of large, mostly deep-water oceanic mysid crustaceans from the family Mysidae. The name, which can be translated as "northern mysids", comes from the genus Boreomysis G.O. Sars, 1869, established for Boreomysis arctica from the boreal waters of Atlantic. As more species have been discovered subsequently, the subfamily is considered panoceanic, and includes 38 species from two genera, Boreomysis and Neobirsteiniamysis Hendrickx et Tchindonova, 2020.

<i>Boreomysis inopinata</i> Species of mysid crustaceans

Boreomysis inopinata is a species of mysid crustaceans from the subfamily Boreomysinae. It is also a member of the nominotypical subgenus Boreomysis sensu stricto. The species is a deepwater bathypelagic mysid, found only from the Tasman Sea off Australia.

Boreomysis sibogae is a species of mysid crustaceans from the subfamily Boreomysinae. It is also a member of the nominotypical subgenus Boreomysis sensu stricto. The species is an epi-bathypelagic mysid, widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific and possibly also in the Atlantic Ocean.

Boreomysis sphaerops is a species of mysid crustaceans from the subfamily Boreomysinae. It is also a member of the nominotypical subgenus Boreomysis sensu stricto. The species is a meso-bathypelagic mysid, distributed in the West Indo-Pacific, although known only from few records off Japan and Australia.

<i>Boreomysis urospina</i> Species of mysid crustaceans

Boreomysis urospina is a species of mysid crustacean from the subfamily Boreomysinae. It is also a member of the subgenus Petryashovia. The species is a mesopelagic mysid, found only in the Tasman Sea, off Australia.

References

  1. DeGrave, Sammy (2023). "Kraussillichirus kraussi (Stebbing, 1900)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  2. "South African Crustacea (Part IV)". Annals of the South African Museum. VI. South African Museum: 369. 1908.
  3. DeGrave, Sammy (2022). "Callichirus kraussi (Stebbing, 1900)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  4. Robles, R.; Dworschak, P.C.; Felder, D.L.; Poore, G.C.B.; Mantelatto, F.L. (2020). "A molecular phylogeny of Callianassidae and related families (Crustacea : Decapoda : Axiidae) with morphological support". Invertebrate Systematics. 34 (2): 113–132. doi:10.1071/IS19021.
  5. L.B. Holthuis. "Marine Lobsters of the World" . Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  6. Rachel Cooper (2011). The interactive effect of sandprawn (Callichirus kraussi) Stebbing bioturbation and nutrients on macrofaunal communities (PDF) (MSc thesis). University of Cape Town.
  7. P Nel; GM Branch (2013). "Assessment of the abundance and distribution of burrowing sandprawns and mudprawns (Callichirus and Upogebia species) in Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa". African Journal of Marine Science . 35 (2): 195–208. Bibcode:2013AfJMS..35..195N. doi:10.2989/1814232X.2013.795914. S2CID   86673543.
  8. Frederick Schram; Carel von Vaupel Klein (eds.). "Treatise on Zoology - Anatomy, Taxonomy, Biology". The Crustacea. 9.
  9. TO Henninger; PW Froneman (2013). "Role of the sandprawn Callichirus kraussi as an ecosystem engineer in a South African temporarily open/closed estuary". African Journal of Aquatic Science . 38 (1): 1001–107. Bibcode:2013AfJAS..38..101H. doi:10.2989/16085914.2012.750593. S2CID   84978195.
  10. Nicholas Hanekom; Ian A Russell (2015). "Temporal changes in the macrobenthos of sandprawn (Callichirus kraussi) beds in Swartvlei Estuary, South Africa". African Zoology . 50 (1): 41–51. doi:10.1080/15627020.2015.1021177. S2CID   82113103. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  11. 1 2 PR Teske; H Winker; CD McQuaid; NP Barker (2009). "A tropical/subtropical biogeographic disjunction in southeastern Africa separates two Evolutionarily Significant Units of an estuarine prawn". Marine Biology . 156 (6): 1265–1275. Bibcode:2009MarBi.156.1265T. doi:10.1007/s00227-009-1168-3. S2CID   53685146.
  12. 1 2 TR Golla; L Pieterse; CM Jooste; PR Teske (2020). "Discovery of populations endemic to a marine biogeographical transition zone". Diversity and Distributions . 26 (12): 1825–1832. Bibcode:2020DivDi..26.1825G. doi: 10.1111/ddi.13162 .