Abstract
A new species, Photis sarae sp. nov., is herein described from Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro. The new species is similar to the Hawaiian species, Photis hawaiensis Barnard, 1955, and an undescribed species, Photis sp. F (LeCroy Citation2000), from Biscayne Bay, Florida. Photis sarae sp. nov. can be distinguished from both species in having gnathopod 2 basis with two long setae on posterior margin, palm with only one spine (excluding palmar corner), pereopod 3 anterior margin of merus with long plumose and simple setae, and dactyli of pereopods 5–7 with accessory spine and telson trapezoidal with distal margin concave. Also, Rocasphotis gen. nov. is described based on material collected from Atol das Rocas, which is closely related to the genus Photis and also corresponds to a new species. Rocasphotis gen. nov. mainly differs from Photis in having antenna 1 shorter than antenna 2, peduncular article 1 longer than article 3, accessory flagellum absent, coxae 1–4 with sparse slender setae; lateral cephalic lobe weakly extended and acute distally; eyes large, poorly developed, composed of sparse ommatidia, and partly enclosed in the lobe. A key for all genera of the family Photidae is given.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr Alan A. Myers for his comments on this paper; Dr Sarah LeCroy for making available her drawings of Photis sp. E (LeCroy, Citation2000) and especially for her comments on the diagnosis of Rocasphotis gen. nov. We thank Cenpes-Petrobras for making available part of the material studied here, which was collected during the project Avaliação Ambiental da Baia de Guanabara and for the financial support for the first author. We are grateful to Maurizélia Brito (chief of the Biological Reserve of Atol das Rocas – IBAMA/Rio Grande do Norte) for sampling authorization and logistical support on the project Diversidade das Ilhas Oceânicas – Atol das Rocas, and the collection team (P.S. Young, P.C. Paiva and A.A. Aguiar) for their effort at the atoll.