''Macromaxillocaris bahamaensis'' is a species of stenopodidean shrimp, the only species in the family Macromaxillocarididae. It is a

troglobite A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

, known only from an

anchialine pool An anchialine system (, from Greek ''ankhialos'' 'near the sea') is a landlocked body of water with a subterranean connection to the ocean. Depending on its formation, these systems can exist in one of two primary forms: pools or caves. The primary ...

in a cave in the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

. It differs from other stenopodideans by the enlargement of its third

maxilliped An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

Description

The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of ''M. bahamaensis'' has a total length (TL) of (

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

length, CL, ); the

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

is smaller at TL , CL . In common with other troglobitic species, the body lacks pigments, and the eyes are

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

. Like other stenopodideans, ''Macromaxillocaris'' has

chelae A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-shaped organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through Neo-Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds ...

(claws) on the first three pairs of

pereiopod The anatomy of a decapod consists of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment – often called a somite – may possess one pair of appendages, although in various groups these m ...

s (walking legs); it differs from them by the size of the third

, which is greatly enlarged in ''Macromaxillocaris'', and is the strongest of all the animal's

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

Distribution and habitat

''Macromaxillocaris bahamaensis'' is the first species discovered among the Stenopodidea to be adapted to a

troglobitic A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

lifestyle. It was found in an

in Oven Rock Cave on Great Guana Cay, a short distance west of

Exuma Cays Exuma is a district of The Bahamas, consisting of over 365 islands and cays. The largest of the islands is Great Exuma, which is 37 mi (60 km) in length and joined to another island, Little Exuma, by a small bridge. The capital and largest to ...

in the

. Oven Rock Cave was first explored in 1993 and contains at least 20 species of stygobiont, and is thus a

hotspot Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tr ...

of subterranean biodiversity. The entrance to the cave is on a hillside, and leads to a small lake, deep, but which is connected to an underwater room, which is in turn connected to other passages; over has been explored. The water in the lake has a

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

of 28.3 ppt at the surface, but increases with increasing depth to around 33–35 ppt at a depth of . ''Macromaxillocaris'' is thought to live on the ceiling of the caves, or in fissures in the bedrock, since it was only observed by divers as they returned to the surface, presumably having been dislodged by the divers' exhaust bubbles.

Taxonomy

''Macromaxillocaris bahamaensis'' was described in 2006 by Fernando Alvarez, Thomas M. Iliffe and José Luis Villalobos, in an article in the ''

Journal of Crustacean Biology The ''Journal of Crustacean Biology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of carcinology (crustacean research). It is published by The Crustacean Society and Oxford University Press (formerly by Brill Publishers and Alle ...

''. As well as a new species and genus, the authors erected a new

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, placed in the infraorder

Stenopodidea The Stenopodidea or boxer shrimps are a small group of decapod crustaceans. Often confused with Caridea shrimp or Dendrobranchiata prawns, they are neither, belonging to their own group. Anatomy They can be differentiated from the Dendrobranch ...

. This was the first major addition to the taxonomy of the infraorder for some time, the previous new family being Spongicolidae, created by

Frederick Schram Frederick Robert Schram (born August 11, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American palaeontologist and carcinologist. He received his B.S. in biology from Loyola University Chicago in 1965, and a Ph.D. on palaeozoology from the University of ...

in 1986. The name ''Macromaxillocaris'' derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

root '' macros'' (meaning "long"), the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

'' maxillaris'' (meaning "jaw"), and the Greek ''karis'' (meaning "shrimp"); it refers to the exceptional length of the third maxilliped of ''Macromaxillocaris''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

' refers to the Bahamas, where the species was found.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q11219001, from2=Q13805175, from3=Q21223773 Stenopodidea Monotypic decapod genera Cave crustaceans Fauna of the Bahamas Crustaceans described in 2006