Galatheacaris

Galatheacaris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Malacostraca
Order:
Decapoda
Infraorder:
Caridea
Superfamily:
Galatheacaridoidea

Vereshchaka, 1997
Family:
Galatheacarididae

Vereshchaka, 1997
Genus:
Galatheacaris

Vereshchaka, 1997
Species:
G. abyssalis
Binomial name
Galatheacaris abyssalis
Vereshchaka, 1997

Galatheacaris abyssalis is a rare species of shrimp, now thought to be a larval stage of another genus, Eugonatonotus.

It was described in 1997 on the basis of a single specimen caught in the Celebes Sea at a depth of 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). It was seen to be so different from previously known shrimp species that a new family, Galatheacarididae, and superfamily, Galatheacaridoidea, were erected for it.[1] Later, more specimens were found in the stomach of a lancetfish, Alepisaurus ferox.[2]

The species shares some plesiomorphies with Procaris, and the two taxa were thought to be closely related.[3] Molecular phylogenetic analyses showed that Galatheacaris abyssalis had such similar mitochondrial DNA to that of Eugonatonotus chacei that the two must be considered conspecific; it is now thought that Galatheacaris is the megalopa stage of Eugonatonotus.[4]

  1. ^ Alexander L. Vereshchaka (1997). "New family and superfamily for a deep-sea caridean shrimp from the Galathea collections". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 17 (2): 361–373. doi:10.2307/1549285. JSTOR 1549285.
  2. ^ Seinen Chow; Makoto Okazaki; Masatsune Takeda; Tadashi Kubota (2000). "A rare abyssal shrimp, Galatheocaris abyssalis, found in the stomach of a lancetfish" (PDF). Crustaceana. 73 (2): 243–246. doi:10.1163/156854000504192.
  3. ^ Raymond T. Bauer (2004). Remarkable shrimps: adaptations and natural history of the Carideans. Animal natural history series 7. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-8061-3555-7.
  4. ^ Sammy DeGrave; Ka Hou Chu; Tin-Yam Y. Chan (2010). "On the systematic position of Galatheacaris abyssalis (Decapoda: Galatheacaridoidea)". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 30 (3): 521–527. doi:10.1651/10-3278.1.