''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 island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. 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. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

Description

The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

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

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 ...

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 nor a syntype). Of ...

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 (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) on the first three pairs of

pereiopod The decapod (crustaceans such as a crab, lobster, shrimp or prawn) is made up of 20 body segments grouped into two main body parts: the cephalothorax and the pleon (abdomen). Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various g ...

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. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

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, also called cays. The largest of the cays is Great Exuma, which is 37 mi (60 km) in length and joined to another island, Little Exuma, by a small bridge. The capital ...

in the

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

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 Allen ...

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

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, 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 Dendrobranc ...

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

Spongicolidae Spongicolidae is a family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, created by

Frederick Schram Frederick Robert Schram (born August 11, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, Illinois) is an Americans, American palaeontologist and carcinologist. He received his Bachelor of Science, B.S. in biology from Loyola University Chicago in 1965, and ...

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

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

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

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'' 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, 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 ...

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

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q11219001 Stenopodidea Monotypic crustacean genera Cave crustaceans Fauna of the Bahamas Crustaceans described in 2006