Caridea; Indo-West Pacific; Palaemonidae; symbiotic shrimps

In the material collected within the Saudi Arabian-German cooperation project Red Sea Biodiversity Survey 2011-2013 along the Saudi Arabian coasts of the Red Sea, 29 species of shrimps of the family Palaemonidae were recognized. From those, 13 species are for the first time recorded from Saudi Arabia, from which 11 species represent the first records from the Red Sea as well. Among them, species of the genera Paranchistus, Urocaridella, and Yemenicaris represent new generic records for the Red Sea.Based on published reports and present data, 73 palaemonid species are actually known from the Red Sea. The present study thus shows a diversity greater on 20 species (37.7 %) in comparison with the knowledge by 1983 (52 species) when the major part of palaemonid shrimps was last time reviewed for that sea by Bruce and Svoboda (1983).