A Systematic Study of the Family Hippolytidae (Crustcaea: Decapoda: Caridea) from Korea: Taxonomy and DNA Barcoding

Abstract

A systematic study was carried out on the hippolytid shrimps in Korean waters. The specimens were collected from the intertidal zones and subtidal zones of continental shelf between the year 1990 and 2011 in Korea. As a result of the study, thirty-six species of the family Hippolytidae were identified based on morphology and DNA barcoding. According to the morphology, Spirontocaris arcuatoides (Kobjakova, 1962), S. prionota (Stimpson, 1864), S. pectinifera (Stimpson, 1860a), Lebbeus kuboi Hayashi, 1992, L. longipes (Kobyakova, 1936a), Eualus gracilirostris (Stimpson, 1860a) and Birulia sachalinensis Bražnikov, 1903 are recorded as new to Korean fauna. Heptacarpus acuticarinatus Komai & Ivanov, 2008 has been incorrectly known as H. camtschaticus (Stimpson, 1860) in Korea. As ovigerous female, Spirontocaris sp. and S. spinus (Sowerby, 1805) are very similar in morphological characteristics, but their body size are very different. Lebbeus sp. and Lebbeus longipes (Kobyakova, 1936a) also are very similar in morphological characteristics, yet their skin color and color pattern are different. These two unidentified species need further studies for the identification. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene was used to test the validity of DNA barcoding for accurate identification of the Korean hippolytid shrimps. COI barcoding was successful in discrimination of all test specimens. DNA barcoding show over 20.7% of mean interspecific sequence divergence. A total of 36 species belonging to 9 genera are treated in this study. Among 36 species, 24 species belonging to 7 genera are photographed and illustrated. This study provides taxonomic key to the 36 species of the Korean hippolytid shrimps.