Abstract
Caridean shrimps are one of the most conspicuous faunal components of the Indo-West Pacific anchialine fauna (Maciolek, 1983). To date, 11 anchialine species distributed in 10 genera and 5 families have been recorded in Indo-Pacific waters, with related species occurring in Atlantic waters, notably in Mexican cenotes and caves in the Bahamas. Some anchialine species have been recorded from numerous locations across vast stretches of the Indo-Pacific, whilst others are only known from their type locality or from a very low number of localities. Antecaridina lauensis (Edmondson, 1935) for instance is known from the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Entedebir Island (Red Sea), Europa Island, Maui and Hawai'i (Big Island), several islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago, as well as Guam and Bohol (see Smith & Wiliams, 1981; Maciolek, 1983; Sket, 1997; Leberer & Cai, 2003; Cai et al., 2009). Equally, the anchialine alpheid, Metabetaeus minutus (Whitelegge, 1897) occurs in Tuvalu, Tokelau, Kiribati, Jaluit and Arno Atolls, Rapa Nui, Christmas Island, Sulawesi, the Ryukyu Archipelago and Lifou (Anker, 2010). In contrast to these wide distributions, some species exhibit a pronounced disjunct distribution, with for instance Calliasmata pholidota Holthuis, 1973 only being recorded from the Ras Muhammad Crack in the Sinai desert in Egypt, as well as Ellice Island, Maui and Hawai'i in the Central Pacific (Holthuis, 1973; Maciolek, 1983; Kensley & Williams, 1986).
NSTL