Parapenaeus politus ( Smith, 1881 )

Parapenaeus politus ( Smith, 1881) View in CoL

Penaeus politus View in CoL Smith, 1881: 444.

Parapenaeus politus View in CoL — Williams 1984: 37, Fig. 19; Lira et al. 2017: 34; Poupin 2018: 96, Fig. 77.

Parapenaeus longirostris View in CoL — Blanco Rambla et al. 1994: 34, Fig.3a View FIGURE 3 .

Material examined. 2 nd, 8 miles N of Chuspa, Miranda state, 10°45’N 66°19’W, Fridtjof Nansen R / V st 510, 182– 184 m depth, 6.vi.1988, ( USNM256507 About USNM ); GoogleMaps same location, 1 male, 2 females, (MMM-Crus-217); 2 nd, 12 miles off bahía de Guanta, Anzoátegui state, 10°25’N 64°35’W, Fridtjof Nansen RV st 490, 143– 154 m depth, 4.vi.1988, ( USNM256511 About USNM ); GoogleMaps same location, 1 nd. (MMM-Crus-0321); GoogleMaps 1 female, 1 male, 25 miles off SE Blanquilla Island , Fridtjof Nansen RV st 780, 300–312 m depth, 5.ix.1988, (MMM-Crus-0314) GoogleMaps .

Geographic & bathymetric distribution. Western Atlantic: from USA (Massachusetts) to French Guiana ( Felder et al. 2009); 21–385 m ( Gracia & Vázquez-Bader 2020).

Remarks. Smith (1885a) pointed out that specimens of Parapenaeus politus collected from the Gulf of Paria had the rostrum much longer than that of the northern specimens and approached the Mediterranean species so closely that it was quite possible that P. politus was only a variety of P. longirostris . Consequently, other authors assumed that they were the same species and reported P. longirostris from Venezuela based on this publication (e.g. Burkenroad 1934; Williams 1965, 1974; Rodríguez & Hendrickx 1993; Blanco Rambla et al. 1994).

Some biogeographic and biodiversity database networks such as WoRMS, OBIS and GBIF include yet P. longisrostris as distributed in the Western Atlantic including Venezuela. Even though P. politus and P. longirostris are considered geminate species with different distribution ranges, the first one is restricted to the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to French Guyana, while P. longirostris is distributed in the eastern Atlantic, from Portugal as far south as Angola, and throughout the Mediterranean Sea ( Pérez Farfante 1982; Pérez Farfante & Kensley 1997). Moreover, reviewing data from Albatross R/ V 1884 expeditions at the NMNH collection, used by Smith (1885a) in his publication, we found that the Albatross R/V st 2121-2122 from Gulf of Paria, was located at the coordinates 10°37’19.92”N 61°43’31.08”W, this is 3 miles from Trinidad & Tobago, not into the Gulf of Paria waters of Venezuela, so the record of P. politus from Venezuela by Smith (1885a) is invalid. In this way, only the following records and collection material correspond to Venezuela: off Miranda state ( Blanco Rambla et al. 1994), from Falcon state (USNM numbers 141073; 14174; 141085; 255723; 141084; and 141124), Miranda state (USNM141123); La Guaira state (USNM141075); Los Testigos Archipelago (USNM141083); and from Orinoco Delta (USNM141057, USNM141097) all identified by Pérez Farfante & Kensley.