A review of species of the genera Spongicola de Haan, 1844 and Paraspongicola de Saint Laurent & Cleva, 1981 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Stenopodidea, Spongicolidae)

A review of species of the deep-sea sponge-associated shrimp genera Spongicola de Haan, 1844 and Paraspongicola de Saint Laurent & Cleva, 1981 (Decapoda, Stenopodidea) is presented on the basis of rich collections made by French expeditions in the Indo-West Pacific, supplemented by collections preserved in various institutions in the world. Seven species are recognized in Spongicola, of which three are new to science: S. venustus de Haan, 1844, S. andamanicus Alcock, 1901, S. levigatus Hayashi & Ogawa, 1987, S. parvispinus Zarenkov, 1990, S. depressus n. sp. from Loyalty Islands, S. goyi n. sp. from Japan, Indonesia, New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and S. robustus n. sp. from Mauritius and Mozambique. Subspecific division of S. andamanicus Alcock, 1901, proposed by de Saint Laurent & Cleva (1981), is abandoned, since our morphological analysis strongly suggests that the division does not reflect a population structure of the species; S. holthuisi de Saint Laurent & Cleva, 1981, is also reduced to a junior synonym of S. andamanicus. Two species are recognized in Paraspongicola, both previously described, viz. P. pusillus de Saint Laurent & Cleva, 1981 and P. inflatus (de Saint Laurent & Cleva, 1981) n. comb., of which the latter is here transferred from Spongicola. Keys in aid for identification are provided for each genus. Geographic and bathymetric distributions of species are briefly discussed. Association with host sponges was verified for some species.