© 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in Belgium. Biogeography of subterranean decapods in North and Central America and

• Main Authors: The Caribbean Region (caridea, Horton H. Hobbs Iii, Key Words Decapoda
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.656.826; http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/25739/25739.pdf

A significant number of decapod crustaceans (81 troglobites and 58 other cavernicoles) has been described from various subterranean waters in North and Central America (United States south to Costa Rica) and from the islands in the western north Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, posing puzzling questions concerning their evolution and biogeography. Of these troglobitic species, 36 are shrimps (1 procarid, 11 atyids, 2 agostocarids, 15 palaemonids, 2 alpheids, 5 hippolytids), 35 are cambarid crayfishes, and 10 are crabs (1 grapsid, 7 pseudothelphusids, 2 trichodactylids). They are known to occur in caves, springs, cenotes, blue holes, anchialine environments, and various crevicular habitats in localized areas throughout the region. Many, if not the majority, of the troglobites appear to have arisen independently from epigean progenitors rather than sharing common subterranean precursors.