The recent development of commercial deep-sea fisheries in India has mainly
been off the southern coast and is based on shrimps (Rajan et al., 2001; Kurup et al.,
2008; Rajool Shanis et al., 2014b). One of the dominant species in these catches is
a pandalid shrimp previously reported as “Parapandalus (or Plesionika) spinipes”
(e.g., Suseelan & Mohamed, 1968; Suseelan, 1974; Rajan et al., 2001; Kurup et
al., 2008; Rajool Shanis et al., 2012; with the genus Parapandalus Borradaile,
1899 now generally synonymized with Plesionika Bate, 1888 (see Chace, 1985;
De Grave & Fransen, 2011). Rajool Shanis et al. (2014a, b) later showed that this
name was a misidentification of Plesionika quasigrandis Chace, 1985, which has
the ventral rostral teeth more densely packed as opposed to P. spinipes, where the
dorsal rostral teeth are more densely packed (see Chace, 1985; Chan & Crosnier,
1991). Although P. quasigrandis is one of the most important deep-sea shrimps
in India from a commercial point of view, no proper taxonomic account has
been given for the Indian material. The present study provides detailed taxonomic
information of P. quasigrandis from India, together with molecular barcoding data
