Family SOLENOCERIDAE Wood-Mason in Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891

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• Solenocerinae Wood-Mason, J. 1891. Phylum Appendiculata. Branch Arthropoda. Class Crustacea. In Wood-Mason, J. & Alcock, A., Natural history notes from H.M. Indian marine survey steamer "Investigator", Commander R.F. Hoskyn, R.N., commanding. No. 21. Note on the results of deep sea dredging during the season 1890–91. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6 8: 269-286 [Date published October 1891] [275] [as Solenocerina; name in the corrected spelling, Solenocerinae, placed on the Official List of Family-Group Names in Zoology, see ICZN (1961)].

  Secondary source:

   International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1961. Opinion 611. Parapenaeus S.I. Smith, 1885 (Crustacea, Decapoda); validation under the Plenary Powers and interpretation of Peneus membranaceus Risso, 1816. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 18(5): 306-308.

Introduction

Solenocerid shrimps are rarely found over the continental shelf but prefer waters over the slope, at depths of hundreds of metres. Some are mesopelagic or bathypelagic while others are benthic. Members of the family are distinguished from other dendrobranchiates by the possession of a postorbital spine and usually a complete cervical groove (Pérez Farfante & Kensley 1997).

The Solenoceridae mostly inhabit offshore waters ranging from the mid-continental shelf to the oceanic floor (from several hundred to over 1000 metres), but a number of Solenocera species and Pleoticus muelleri from the West Atlantic may be found in shallower waters. All genera, except Pleoticus, are known from Australian waters. Dall (1999) revised Australian solenocerids and provided keys to all genera and to the Indo-west Pacific species. Earlier works dealing specifically with Australian taxa include those of Grey et al. (1983), Kensley et al. (1987), Pérez Farfante & Grey (1980), and Pérez Farfante & Kensley (1985).

Diagnosis

Body typically shrimp-like; integument soft, stiff but not rigid. Rostrum elongate, blade-like with dorsal and sometimes ventral teeth. Postorbital spine absent; with 2 or more postrostral teeth. With at least 3 branchiae on some thoracic somites, at least 11 on each side. Prosartesma (mesial process on antennule article 1) reduced to setose boss (well-developed only in Maximiliaeus).

Diagnosis References

Poore, G.C.B.,& Ahyong, S.T. 2023. Marine decapod Crustacea. A guide to families and genera of the World. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing pp. 928.

General References

Dall, W. 1999. Australian species of Solenoceridae (Penaeoidea: Decapoda). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43(2): 553-587

Grey, D.L., Dall, W. & Baker, A. 1983. A Guide to the Australian Penaeid Prawns. Darwin : Northern Territory Government Printing Office 140 pp. 51 colour pls.

Kensley, B., Tranter, H.A. & Griffin, D.J.G. 1987. Deepwater Decapod Crustacea from Eastern Australia (Penaeidae and Caridea). Records of the Australian Museum 39: 263-331

Pérez Farfante, I. & Grey, D.L. 1980. A new species of Solenocera (Crustacea: Decapoda: Solenoceridae) from Northern Australia. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 93(2): 421-434

Pérez Farfante, I. & Kensley, B. 1985. Cryptopenaeus crosnieri, a new species of shrimp, and a new record of C. sinensis (Penaeoidea: Solenoceridae) from Australian waters. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 98(1): 281-287

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