Two new pandalid shrimps and the discovery of the second specimen of the rare hippolytid shrimp Leontocaris bulga Taylor & Poore, 1998 (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Mozambique MAINBAZA Cruise

Abstract

Two new species of the caridean shrimp family Pandalidae were discovered from the recent deep-sea MAINBAZA cruise in the Mozambique Channel. Pandalina spinicauda n. sp. is unique in the genus by having much more numerous dorsolateral spines on the telson. Plesionika neon n. sp. belongs to die “Plesionika rostricrescentis (Bate, 1888)” group that bears distinct basal rostral crest and with elaborate colour patterns, but has the shortest stylocerite and a very different coloration. The rare hippolytid shrimp Leontocaris bulga Taylor & Poore, 1998 was also collected by the MAINBAZA cruise. Leontocaris bulga has only been known before from a damaged specimen lacking abdomen and collected off Tasmania, and therefore, the Mozambique specimen is described and illustrated in detail.