Decapod crustaceans new to the fauna of Cyprus

Abstract

The first information on the decapod fauna of Cyprus was given by Heller (1863) who reported six marine species. Later, Unger & Kotschy (1865), Plateau (1884) and Adensamer (1898) raised this number to 11 species. After 1898, a number of publications (e.g. Fodera, 1961—according to Lewinsohn & Holthuis, 1986; Demetropoulos & Neocleous, 1969; Lewinsohn & Galil, 1982) added new records and significantly raised the number of decapod species known from Cyprus. However, the first inventory of the marine decapods of Cyprus was given by Lewinsohn & Holthuis (1986), in which 113 were included. Later Hadjichristophorou et al. (1997) and Kocatas et al. (2001) recorded the presence of 30 more species new to the decapod fauna of Cyprus, raising the total number to 143. In 2007 Tzomos et al. published an updated list of the marine decapods of Cyprus consisting of 145 species (11 Dendrobranchiata, 33 Caridea, 5 Thalassinidea, 5 Palinura, 22 Anomura, 69 Brachyura), six of which are lessepsian immigrants. More recently Dogan et al. (2008) reported two more decapod species (1 Dendrobranchiata, 1 Thalassinidea) increasing the decapod species number for Cyprus to 147. This study aims to provide new information on the decapod fauna of Cyprus.