''Ctenocheloides'' is a genus of ghost shrimp in the family

Callianassidae Callianassidae is a family of ghost shrimp of the order Decapoda. Subfamilies and genera ''Callianassidae'' is divided into 41 genera: * '' Aqaballianassa'' Poore, Dworschak, Robles, Mantelatto & Felder, 2019 * '' Arenallianassa'' Poore, Dwors ...

, containing the single species ''Ctenocheloides attenboroughi''. It was described in 2010, and named in honour of the British natural history broadcaster Sir

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

. It is known from a single female specimen collected in shallow water on the north-western coast of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Description

The genus ''Ctenocheloides'' is known from a single female specimen. The total length of the specimen is , with a

carapace A carapace is a Dorsum (biology), 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 tor ...

long. ''Ctenocheloides'' resembles the genus '' Ctenocheles'', as reflected in the name of the genus, both genera having pectinate (comb-like) fingers to the

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

(claws). ''Ctenocheloides'' differs from ''Ctenocheles'' in having no rostrum, having well-developed eyes, and in having shorter, fatter claws.

Distribution

The single known specimen of ''Ctenocheloides'' was collected in 2008 from a "large, mud-cemented piece of rubble", dredged from a bay near Hell-Ville,

Nosy Bé Nosy Be (formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be) is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisional results of t ...

, in north-western

. The piece of rubble was lying at a depth of in a bay filled with mangroves.

Taxonomy

Both the genus ''Ctenocheloides'' and its single species, ''C. attenboroughi'' were described in 2010 by Arthur Anker, in a paper in the ''

Journal of Natural History The ''Journal of Natural History'' is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis focusing on entomology and zoology. The journal was established in 1841 under the name ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' (''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'') an ...

''. The genus name reflects the close relationship of the genus to ''Ctenocheles'', while the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"''attenboroughi''" commemorates the British natural history broadcaster

. It was originally placed in the family Ctenochelidae, which was later reduced to a subfamily of a broader

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5191639 Thalassinidea Monotypic decapod genera Endemic fauna of Madagascar Crustaceans described in 2010 Crustaceans of Africa David Attenborough Species known from a single specimen

Description

Distribution

Taxonomy

See also

References