The Palaemonoid Shrimp Fauna (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) of the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory

Abstract

A 1981 - 1986 survey of the marine fauna of Port Essington, Cobourg Peninsula, Arnhem Land, northern Australia, confirms the presence of 61 species of palaemonoid shrimp. Three new species, Periclimenaeus serrula sp. nov., Periclimenaeus solitus sp. nov., and Periclimenes cobourgi sp. nov., are described, and a further 25 species added to the fauna of the Northern Tenitory, of which Periclimenaeus stylirostris, Periclimenes novaecaledoniae, and Periclimenes sinensis are new records for Australia. This report provides the first general account of the palaemonoid fauna of a larger focal area from northern Australia, and one third of the pontoniine shrimps known to occur in Australian waters are now known to occur in the Port Essington region. The survey has, in total, provided eight species new to science and 34 species have been added to the fauna of the Northern Territory.