Alpheus spatulatus Banner and Banner, 1968
Alpheus spatulatus is an Indo-West Pacific snapping shrimp that belongs to the Edwardsii species group within the genus Alpheus.
Alpheus spatulatus belongs to the Edwardsii species group within the genus Alpheus (Banner and Banner 1968). The species name refers to the spatulate dactyli on the third pereopods. Type locality: northwestern South China Sea, east of Hainan (reported in Chace 1988), types stored at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (USNM). Type: USNM 125933. For additional descriptions, see Banner and Banner (1978), Chace (1988).
This species has been collected from 48-127 m depth (Chace 1988).
Maximum body size is 14 mm (carapace length) (Chace 1988). This species has spatulate dactyli on the third pereopods, similar to other species in the Edwardsii species group (A. malabaricus and A. euphrosyne); it can be differentiated from these species by the relatively heavy/long rostrum, and by the long tooth overhanging the groove on the upper margin of the major chela (Banner and Banner 1968).
Indo-West Pacific: South China Sea and Philippines (Chace 1988).