Accepted by J. Goy: 24 Oct. 2014; published: 17 Dec. 2014 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press Zootaxa 3895 (4): 451–491 www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article 451 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3895.4.1 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:88124B7D-DF49-4EC7-A2B8-83A7BC80CD89 Provisional revision of American snapping shrimp allied to Alpheus floridanus Kingsley, 1878 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Alpheidae) with notes on A. floridanus africanus HEATHER D. BRACKEN-GRISSOM 1, 2 & DARRYL L. FELDER 1 1 Department of Biology and Laboratory for Crustacean Research, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana 70504- 2451, USA. E-mail: hbracken@fiu.edu; dlf4517@louisiana.edu 2 Department of Biology, Florida International University-Biscayne Bay Campus, North Miami, Florida, 33181, USA Table of contents Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Material and methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 Systematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Family Alpheidae Rafinesque, 1815 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Alpheus floridanus Kingsley, 1878 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Alpheus roblesi sp. nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 Alpheus ulalae sp. nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 Alpheus hephaestus sp. nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 Alpheus platycheirus Boone, 1927 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 Key to American species of the Alpheus floridanus complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 Abstract Alpheus floridanus Kingsley, 1878 has been previously treated as a single, morphologically diverse species with a broad distribution in the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean and eastern Pacific Ocean. However, variations in morphology and color patterns, in addition to genetic evidence, have prompted futher investigation. Morphological characters, including curvature and length of the scaphocerite, number teeth on the incisor process of the mandible, number of pereopodal spines, proportions of the major chela, as well as color patterns, support recognition of several species in the Alpheus flor- idanus complex. Alpheus floridanus sensu stricto (s.s.) is redescribed based upon a lectotype selected from the former syn- typic pair. The mutilated second specimen of the syntypic pair is identified as A. platycheirus Boone, 1927, which is fully redescribed. Three species are described as new: A. hephaestus sp. nov . from the eastern Pacific, and A. roblesi sp. nov . and A. ulalae sp. nov. from the western Atlantic. Morphological comparisions to the eastern Atlantic A. floridanus afri- canus Balss, 1916 are discussed, however a formal treatment of this subspecies is not the objective of this study. Our pro- posed taxonomic revisions of the A. floridanus complex are supported in a companion molecular genetic analysis (following paper, this volume). Key words: Alpheus, species complex, snapping shrimp, color pattern, East Atlantic, West Atlantic, East Pacific Introduction Snapping shrimps of the genus Alpheus Fabricius, 1798 encompass a very diverse group of decapods numbering