| Melicertus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Dendrobranchiata |
| Family: | Penaeidae |
| Genus: | Melicertus Rafinesque, 1814 |
| Type species | |
| Melicertus tigrinus as a synonym of Melicertus kerathurus Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1814
| |
Melicertus is a genus of "king" prawns, comprising eight species which were previously classified as members of the genus Penaeus:12
- Melicertus canaliculatus (Olivier, 1811) - witch prawn
- Melicertus hathor (Burkenroad, 1959) - (Red Sea, invasive to Mediterranean)
- Melicertus kerathurus (Forskål, 1775) - caramote prawn, striped prawn (Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean)
- Melicertus latisulcatus (Kishinouye, 1896) - western king prawn, Spencer Gulf prawn (Australia)34
- Melicertus longistylus (Kubo, 1943) - redspot king prawn
- Melicertus marginatus (Randall, 1840) - aloha prawn
- Melicertus plebejus (Hess, 1865) - eastern king prawn (Australia)
- Melicertus similis Chanda & Bhattacharya, 2002
In 2023, based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis by Yang et al., Chan proposed a reclassification of Peneaus into eleven subgenera.5 In this system, only the East-Atlantic type species Melicertus kerathurus is retained in Peneaus (Melicertus). The new proposed subgenus Penaeus (Oleopenaeus) contains P. (O.) hathor P. (O.) latisulcatus, and P. (O.) plebejus. Penaeus (Plagosopenaeus) canaliculatus, Penaeus (Altiopeneaus) marginatus, and Penaeus (Ischiopenaeus) longistylus (subgenera nova) are monospecific. The "enigmatic" M. similis is believed to represent juveniles of P. (I.) longistylus.
References
References
- Michael Türkay (2009). "Melicertus Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1814". World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
- "Species under Melicertus". Sea Life Base. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- "Western King Prawn 2018". fish.gov.au. Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
- Dixon, C.D.; Hooper, G.E.; Roberts, S.D. (November 2010). Spencer Gulf Prawn Penaeus (Melicertus) latisulcatus Fishery 2008/09: Fishery Assessment Report to PIRSA Fisheries (PDF) (Report). SARDI Publication No. F2007/000770-4; SARDI Research Report Series No. 511. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
- Chan, Tin-Yam (2023-01-17). "New subgeneric names for the most commercially important shrimp genus Penaeus Fabricius, 1798 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Penaeidae)". ZooKeys (1141): 29–40. Bibcode:2023ZooK.1141...29C. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1141.97349. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 10207927. PMID 37234967.