Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890

Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890 View in CoL

Figs 3 View Figure 3 , 31 C View Figure 31

Caprella nigra : Reid 1951: 283–284, 289, fig. 58.

Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890: 41, taf. 1, figs 28–30, taf. 3, figs 45–47, taf. 5, fig. 48–49, taf. 6, fig. 10; Mayer 1903: 67, taf. 2, figs 36, 37, taf 7, fig. 52; Steinberg and Dougherty 1957: 283–284, figs 16, 19, 24, 30; McCain 1968: 82–86, figs 41, 42; Wakabara et al. 1991: 73; Guerra-García et al. 2006: 175, figs 17–19; Díaz et al. 2005: 6, 7, 22, fig. 13; Ros and Guerra-García 2012: 137; Ros et al. 2013: 677, fig. 2. View in CoL

Material examined.

Panama • 3.2–3.8 mm • 2 ♂, 2 ♀; Bocas del Toro, Hospital Point ; 9.3333°N, 82.2185°W; depth 11 m; from buoy scrapings, 26 June 2023; K. N. White leg; USNM 1743944 About USNM GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis.

Body lacking dorsal projections. Male pereonite 2 with large, triangular anteroventral projection. Gnathopod 1 dactylus reaching ~ 1 / 2 of propodus length. Male gnathopod 2 basis with posteroproximal bump.

Distribution.

Africa: West Africa ( Reid 1951); Brazil: Rio de Janerio ( Wakabara et al. 1991); Chile: Coquimbo ( Guerra-García and Thiel 2001); Colombia: Magdalena ( Guerra-García et al. 2006); Mediterranean Sea: Balearic Islands ( Ros et al. 2013); Mexico: Gulf of Mexico ( Steinberg and Dougherty 1957; Winfield et al. 2006); U. S. A.: Florida ( Camp 1998); Venezuela: Falcón, Carabobo, Aragua, Sucre, Nueva Esparta ( Díaz et al. 2005); Western North Atlantic ( McCain 1968); Spain: Cadiz ( Ros and Guerra-García 2012); Panama: Bocas del Toro (present study).

Ecology and remarks.

This species occurs among mangrove roots, seagrasses, hydroids, ascidians, gravel bottoms, ropes, mussels, oysters, and shallow waters ( McCain 1968; Díaz et al. 2005; Guerra-García et al. 2006). In Bocas del Toro, this species was collected from buoy scrapings at 11 m depth. Panamanian specimens agree closely with the original description of the species; however, several descriptions show variation in the shape of the male gnathopod 2 propodus. This species has recently been documented as spreading in several non-indigenous regions ( Ros and Guerra-García 2012; Ros et al. 2013). Live specimens are yellow-brown in color with brown spots and a brown eye.