Automate branchialis

Automate branchialis is a species of pistol shrimp from the family Alpheidae which was thought to be a Lessepsian migrant, i.e. a species which had colonised the Mediterranean from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. This was because before its description in 1958 all the species of the genus Automate were found in the Indo-Pacific region. A. branchialis has not been recorded in the Indo-Pacific region and has been found to be widespread in the Mediterranean so it is now considered to be a Mediterranean endemic.

Automate branchialis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Alpheidae
Genus: Automate
Species:
A. branchialis
Binomial name
Automate branchialis
Holthuis & Gottlieb, 1958[1]

Discovery and distribution

Automate branchialis was originally described from specimens collected by Holthuis & Gottlieb off the coast of Israel in the 1950s. At the time the pistol shrimps of the genus Automate were only known from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and although Holthuis & Gottlieb described their specimens as the new species Automate branchialis it was assumed that it had invaded the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea by Lessepsian migration.[2]

A. branchialis was subsequently collected from a number of locations in the Mediterranean including Izmir Bay in Turkey, in the Greek Islands, Cyprus, from Manfredonia Bay in Italy, Malta, off Marseilles, the Balearic Islands and off Spain. The widespread distribution of A. branchialis in the Mediterranean and the lack of any records in the Indo-Pacific region have led researchers to conclude that it is a previously overlooked endemic Mediterranean species. It was probably overlooked because of its small size and preferred deep water habitat, it is demersal with a depth range of 18 – 73 m.[3][4][5][6]

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References
  1. Michael Türkay, ed. (2004). "Automate branchialis Holthuis & Gottlieb, 1958". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  2. Athanasios Koukouras; Costas Dounas; Aanastasios Eleftheriou (1993). "Proceedings of the Fourth Colloquium Crustacea Decapoda Mediterranea Thessaloniki, April 25th-28th, 1989". Scientific Annals of the School of Biology. 1 (1).
  3. Tuncer Katağan; Ahmet Kocataş (2001). "New Localities for Automate branchialis Holthuis & Gottlieb, 1958 (Decapoda, Alpheidae) in the Mediterranean Sea". Crustaceana. 74 (11): 1387–1391.
  4. J. Enrique García Raso; Vanesa Cobos Muñoz; J. Enrique García Muñoz (2010). "Additional records of two rare crustaceans from southern Spain (Western Mediterranean Sea): Platysquilla eusebia (Stomatopoda) and Automate branchialis (Decapoda)". Marine Biodiversity Records. 3. doi:10.1017/S1755267209990431.
  5. Antoni Box; Guillermo Guerao; Pere Abello; Salud Deudero (2007). "Occurrence of Automate branchialis Holthuis & Gottlieb, 1958 (Decapoda, Alpheidae) in the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean Sea)". Crustaceana. 80 (4): 495–501. doi:10.1163/156854007780441000.
  6. M.L.D Palomares; D. Paully, eds. (2016). "Automate branchialis Holthuis & Gottlieb, 1958". Sea Life Base. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
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