Abstract |
A new genus, Pomatogebia, is proposed for 3 species of thalassinidean shrimps from the tropical western Atlantic and eastern Pacific that are specialized for burrowing in massive stony corals. The caudal part of the shrimp's abdomen is shaped as an operculum that can be inserted from within the burrow system into its entrance, the exoskeletal surface mimicking that of the coral. Pomatogebia operculata (Schmitt, 1924), placed in Upogebia until now, becomes the type species of the new genus. |