An updated checklist of shrimps on the Indian coast

This study reports an updated checklist of marine shrimps found along the Indian coast, including the Lakshadweep and the Andaman &amp; Nicobar Islands.  A total of 364 species classified under 128 genera belonging to the order Decapoda is reported, thus adding 27 species to the existing checklist of 337 species.  Marine shrimps are classified under two suborders of the order Decapoda, viz., Dendrobranchiata and Pleocyemata, and the two suborders account for 155 (42.6 %) and 209 species (57.4 %) of these 364 species, respectively.  Pleocyemata is represented by three infraorders, viz., Axiidea, Caridea and Stenopodidea, while Caridea has a maximum of 199 reported species. Among the 12 superfamilies, Penaeoidea contributed to 38.13% (135 species) followed by Paleaemonidea with 18.07% (64 species).  All other superfamilies were found to contribute less than 12%.  Superfamilies, Bresilloidea and Psalidopodoidea had only single species representatives (0.28% each).  The final list was compiled after reviewing all existing literature including monographs, catalogues, checklists, websites and fishery reports. The scientific names were validated with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) database.  A total of 25 issues were identified from the previous checklist out of which 19 species have been updated with the correct, accepted names and six species have been removed from the previous list.</p

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Not AvailableSpecies checklists enlist the species available within the defined geographical region and thus serve as essential input for developing conservation and management strategies. The fields of conservation biology and ecology confront the chal-lenge of inflated biodiversity, attributed to non-recognition of taxonomic inconsistencies such as synonyms, alternate rep-resentation, emendations etc. Critical review of the checklists and distributional records of Phylum Echinodermata from Indian waters and subsequent validation of species names with World Register of Marine Species (WORMS) database, re-vealed that the current literature included 236 incorrect entries comprising of 162 synonyms, 15 emendations, 5 nomina dubia, I nomen nudwn, 40 species under alternate representation, 9 species with author misnomer, 1 subspecies and 1 un-accepted. The 226 species found to be mixed with valid names and a revised checklist was prepared. The revised and up-dated checklist holds 741 species of echinoderms comprising of 182 asteroids (24.56%), 70 crinoids (9.45%), 138 echinoids (18.62%), 179 holothuroids (24.16%) and 172 ophiuroids (23.21%), placed under 28 orders and 107 families. This paper discusses the cause for taxonomic inflation and argues that such taxonomic inconsistencies alter our interpre-tations of a species including its inaccurate distribution and, could possibly impede the country's conservation and man-agement efforts.Not Availabl