Abstract
The pontoniine shrimp Philarius gerlachei (Nobili, 1905) is revised based on Nobili’s type material from the Persian Gulf and specimens recently collected in Madagascar, Australia and French Polynesia. Philarius gerlachei is redescribed and four species are described as new: P. polynesicus n. sp. from Moorea, French Polynesia; P. rufus n. sp. and P. minor n. sp., both from Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and P. albimaculatus n. sp. from Nosy-Bé, Madagascar. These species differ from P. gerlachei and/or from each other by a combination of morphological characters and species-diagnostic colour patterns. All species of Philarius appear to be obligate associates of branching corals of the genus Acropora.
References
Borradaile, L.A. (1898) A revision of the Pontoniinae. Annals of Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 2, 376 –391.
Bruce, A.J. (1967) The results of the re-examination of the type specimens of some pontoniid shrimps in the collection of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Bulletin du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 2e série, 3, 564–572.
Bruce, A.J. (1982) Notes on some Indo-West Pacific Pontoniinae. XL. The rediscovery of Periclimenes lifuensis Borradaile, 1898 (Decapoda, Pontoniine) and the establishment of its systematic position. Crustaceana, 42, 158–173.
Bruce, A.J. (1994) A synopsis of the Indo-West Pacific genera of the Pontoniinae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae). Theses Zoologicae, 25, 1–172.
Bruce, A.J. & Coombes, K.E. (1995) The palaemonoid shrimp fauna (Crustacea: Decapods: Caridea) of the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory. The Beagle, Records of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, 12, 101–144.
Chace, F.A. Jr. & Bruce, A.J. (1993) The caridean shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda) of the Albatross Philippine Expedition 1907-1910, Part 6: Superfamily Palaemonoidea. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 543, 1–152.
De Grave, S., Pentcheff, N.D., Ahyong, S.T., Chan, T.-Y., Crandall, K.A., Dworschak, P.C., Felder, D.L., Feldmann, R.M., Fransen, C.H.J.M., Goulding, L.Y.D., Lemaitre, R., Low, M.E.Y., Martin, J.W., Ng, P.K.L., Schweitzer, C.E., Tan, S.H., Tshudy, D. & Wetzer, R. (2009) A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 21, 1–109.
Holthuis, L.B. (1952) The Decapoda of the Siboga Expedition. Part XI. The Palaemonidae collected by the Siboga and Snellius Expeditions with remarks on other species II. Subfamily Pontoniinae. Siboga Expeditie, 39-A10, 1–253.
Kubo, I. (1940) A new shrimp, Harpilius imperialis. Journal of the Imperial Fisheries Institute, 34, 1–4.
Li, X. (2000) Catalog of the genera and species of Pontoniinae Kingsley, 1878 (Decapoda, Pontoniinae). Xueyuan Press, Beijing, China. 319 pp.
Nobili, G. (1905) Décapodes nouveaux des côtes d'Arabie et du Golfe Persique (diagnoses préliminaires). Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 11, 158–164.
Nobili, G. (1906) Mission J. Bonnier er Ch. Pérez (Golfe Persique, 1901). Crustacés décapodes et stomatopodes. Bulletin Scientifique de la France et de la Belgique, 90, 13–159, pls. 2–5.
Poupin, J. (1998) Crustacea Decapoda and Stomatopoda of French Polynesia (Dendrobranchiata, Stenopodidea, Caridea, Thalassinidea, and Stomatopoda, with additions to the Astacidea, Palinuridea, Anomura, and Brachyura). Atoll Research Bulletin, 451, 1–62.