Espeleonaushonia manningi

Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Eumalacostraca
Order Decapoda
Family Laomediidae

Espeleonaushonia manningi (Alvarez, Villabos, & Iliffe, 2000)

Taxonomic Characterization: The genus Espeleonaushonia is characterized by eyes with more or less reduced corneal pigmentation; third maxilliped with well developed exopod; first pereopods equal, robust, elongated, covered with small acute spines; second pereopod small, not chelate, with brush of dense setae; fifth pereopod with simple dactylus; second to fifth abdominal pleura with serrated ventral margin; uropodal endopods and exopods with complete suture. Espeleonaushonia may be separated from the closely related genus Naushonia by the serrated ventral margins of the second to fifth abdominal pleura, the spinous mesial and lateral margins of the P1 propodus, as well as the presence of a brush of dense setae on the P2 dactylus. Espeleonaushonia manningi differs from E. augudrea mainly by the pigmented corneas, smooth lateral margin of the P1 dactylus and the coxa of P5 not covered by the posterolateral portion of the carapace (Dworschak, Marin & Anker, 2006).

Disposition of Specimens: Colección Nacional de Crustáceos, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, catalog numbers CNCR 17988-90.

Ecological Classification: Stygobitic

Size: Female body length measured 37.6 - 38.6 mm, while the male was 34.8 mm.

Number of Species in Genus: Two, both stygobitic

Genus Range:

Species Range: Known only from Liza Bay Cave, Salina Point, Acklins Islands, Bahamas

Closest Related Species: Among the Naushonia, the most closely distributed species, N. crangonoides and N. portoricensis, are not the most morphologically similar to E. manningi. N. lactoalbida from Mozambique is the closest related species with the genus Naushonia (Alvarez, Villalobos, and Iliffe, 2000). E. manningi is most closely related to its only congener, E. augudrea from a cave in Cuba.

Habitat: Anchialine

Ecology: Both E. augudrea and E. manningi were found in sea-side brackish caves, on silt-covered hard substrates, and so are ecologically different from Naushonia species that typically live in burrows in marine soft sediments (Dworschak, Marin & Anker, 2006). E. manningi was found at only 10 to 20 cm depths in a strongly saline pool (34 ppt). The floor of the pool was covered with bat guano, gravel, and fine silt. The pools were near the entrance and thus recieved low indirect light. Other crustaceans in the pools, included amphipods, copepods, archiannelid polychaetes, and a shrimp from the genus Typhlatya (Alvarez, Villalobos, and Iliffe, 2000).

Evolutionary Origins: The wide variation in total body length and abdomen length ratio between species and Naushonia's geographical distribution pattern are indicative of a long period of isolation among the species (Alvarez, Villalobos, and Iliffe, 2000).

Conservation Status: Restricted to a single anchialine cave in Acklins Island, Bahamas.

References:

Alvarez, F., J.L. Villalobos, and T.M. Iliffe. 2000. Naushonia manningi, new species (Decapoda: Thalassinidea: Laomediidae), from Acklins Island, Bahamas. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 20(2):192-198, 3 figures.
Berggren, M. 1992. Naushonia lactoalbida, new species (Decapoda: Thalassinidea: Laomediidae), a mud shrimp from Inhace Island, Mozambique. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 12:514-522.
Dworschak, P.C., I. Marin and A. Anker. 2006. A new species of Naushonia Kingsley, 1897 (Decapoda: Thalassinidea: Laomediidae) from Vietnam and the Philippines with notes on the genus Espeleonaushonia Juarrero & Martínez-Iglesias, 1997. Zootaxa, 1372:1–16.
Glassel, S.A. 1938. New and obscure decapod Crustacea from the west American coasts. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 8:411-454.
Juarrero, A., A. García and J.C. Martínez-Iglesia. 1997. Un nuevo género y especie de Laomediidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Thalassinidea) de Cuba. Avicennia, 6/7, 36–42.
Kingsley, J.S. 1897. On a new genus and two new species of macrurous Crustacea. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 27:95-99.
Martin, J.W. and L.G. Abele. 1982. Naushonia panamensis, new species (Decapoda: Thalassinidea: Laomediidae) from the Pacific coast of Panama, with notes on the genus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 95:478-483.
Nobili, G. 1904. Faune carcinologique de la Mer Rouge: Décapodes et Stomatopodes. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie, Series 9, 4:82-85.
Rathbun, M.J. 1901. The Brachyura and Macrura of Puerto Rico. Bulletin of the United State Fish Commission for 1900, 2:1-127.