A new sponge associated shrimp species of the Indo-West Pacific genus Paraclimenaeus (Decapoda, Caridea, Palaemonidae)

A new sponge-associated species, Paraclimenaeus michaeli sp. nov. from Sulawesi, Indonesia, and Singapore, is described and illustrated. The new species can be distinguished from its congenerics by: (1) the downwards curved rostrum with 2 acute dorsal teeth subdistally, (2) the absence of subdistal teeth on the fixed finger of the major second chela, (3) the pairs of dorsal telson spines at about 0.33 and 0.66 of the telson length, (4) the caudal fan sparsely setose, and (5) the second pereiopods without subdistal teeth on fixed finger. To evaluate its relationship with congenerics and species of the related genera Apopontonia and Climeniperaeus, a phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S mitochondrial gene is presented. A key for the identification of the species in Apopontonia, Climeniperaeus and Paraclimenaeus is proposed.