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901  The order Stomatopoda (mantis shrimps) is represented by an ecologically and behaviorally diverse group of actively predatory crustaceans that nevertheless exhibit only moderate morphological diversity compared to the decapods. All are shrimplike in form, with triramous antennules, a large abdomen supported by stiltlike uropods , full pleopods adorned with plumose gills, 3 pairs of walking legs, and 5 pairs of maxillipeds (of which the second pair is modified equally into unique hammering and spearing raptorial claws with a deadly strike mechanism ; Patek, Korff, and Caldwell 2004, Patek and Caldwell 2005). The group has a long fossil history. The extinct tyrontophontids (suborder Archeostomatopodea) are known since the Carboniferous. The other suborder, the Unipeltata, includes the extinct sculdids and pseudosculdids from the Triassic and Jurassic as well as the 5 Recent superfamilies (Bathysquilloidea, Erythrosquilloidea, Gonodactyloidea, Lysiosquilloidea, Squilloidea; Schram and Müller 2004). The order Stomatopoda currently comprises 482 species (449 living, 33 fossil), with 122 genera (111 living, 11 extinct), 22 families (4 extinct), 5 living superfamilies (+ uncertain superfamily status of extinct groups), and 2 suborders (1 extinct; Schram and Müller 2004). In this report, we document 10% of the world’s living stomatopod species (45 species, 2 of them as “species complexes”), 22% of the world’s genera (24 genera), 61% of the world’s families (11), and 80% of the world’s superfamilies (4) in the Gulf of Mexico (GMx). Stomatopods are predominantly a tropical, shallowwater benthic group, but a few species extend into temperate and boreal waters and a considerable number inhabit deep, cold environments, including the outer continental shelf (some squilloids and lysiosquilloids) and the continental slopes (bathysquilloids; Manning 1969, 1995, Reaka and Manning 1987, Manning and Chace 1990). Although some stomatopods reach hypersaline and estuarine waters, most are restricted to marine habitats. The bathysquilloids, erythrosquilloids, most lysiosquilloids, and most squilloids inhabit level-bottom environments. The lysiosquilloids and squilloids are known to excavate burrows of varying complexity (Caldwell and Dingle 1975, Reaka and Manning 1981). The gonodactyloids generally 901 51 Stomatopoda (Crustacea) of the Gulf of Mexico Marjorie L. Reaka, David K. Camp, Fernando Álvarez,* Adolfo G. Gracia,* Manuel Ortiz,* and Ana Rosa Vázquez-Bader*  Stomatopoda. After Tavares 2002. * Order of authors marked with asterisks determined alphabetically. 902 ~ Stomatopoda (Crustacea) don 1911, Pearse 1929, Archer 1948, Gunter 1950, Hedgpeth 1950, 1953, 1954, Hildebrand 1954). After the publication of Bulletin 89 (1954), Springer and Bullis (1956) provided important early information on Gulf stomatopods (7 species) that were collected on the R/V Oregon expeditions, and Bullis and Thompson (1965) documented 12 species of stomatopods that were collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the exploratory fishing vessels Oregon, Silver Bay, Combat, and Pelican between 1956 and 1960. Raymond B. Manning (1959) provided an early important checklist of the stomatopods of Florida and nearby Gulf of Mexico waters (17 species), and Manning’s (1969) monograph on the stomatopods of the Western Atlantic is the most comprehensive and influential treatment of the biology and distribution of stomatopods in the Gulf of Mexico to date (providing 33 of the present 45 species in the Gulf). Other notable studies included the Hourglass Cruises on the Central West Florida Shelf (Camp 1973, 12 species) and work in the northern Gulf (Adkison, Heard, and Hopkins 1983, Adkison and Hopkins 1984, Foster, Thoma, and Heard 2004; new genera and distributional information for 6 species). Studies of stomatopods in the far southeastern Gulf near northwestern Cuba have a long and venerable history , beginning with early exploratory investigations by Guérin-Méneville (1855, 1857), von Martens (1872, 1881), the voyages of the Albatross (Bigelow 1893, 1894), Torralbas (1917), Bouvier (1918), de Boury (1918), Parisi (1922), and the Atlantis and Oregon expeditions (Chace 1939, Springer and Bullis 1956). More recently, the stomatopod fauna of Cuba has been documented by Gómez and Ortiz (1985) and Ortiz and Lalana (2001), the latter providing information on the biology, size, abundance, habitat, and distribution of 16 species in Cuban waters. Of these, we report 7 species here (2 of these are included within species complexes of unknown taxonomic status) from the northwestern part of Cuba (south-southeast [sse] sector of the Gulf). Stomatopod research in Mexican waters of the Gulf has accelerated, with many important contributions having been made during the latter decades of the 20th century (Hernández-Aguilera and Villalobos 1980, Villalobos-Hiriart, Hernández-Aguilera, and Sosa-Hernández 1981, Hernández-Aguilera and Sosa-Hernández 1982, Morales-García 1986, 1987...

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