Tiger pistol shrimp
| Tiger pistol shrimp | |
|---|---|
| A. bellulus and Cryptocentrus cinctus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
| Infraorder: | Caridea |
| Family: | Alpheidae |
| Genus: | Alpheus |
| Species: | A. bellulus |
| Binomial name | |
| Alpheus bellulus Miya & Miyake, 1969 | |
The tiger pistol shrimp (Alpheus bellulus) belongs to the Alpheidae family, known commonly as snapping shrimp.
The Alpheidae family is incredibly diverse with over 500 unique species across the world. Alpheus bellulus shares a translocation and inversion event of trnE in its mitogenome with several other Alpheus species but there is not enough evidence to say this is a shared commonality among the entire genus. Phylogeny suggests Alpheus randalli and Alpheus bellulus belong to the same taxon within a monophyletic group. Amino acid composition of the cytochrome b protein in A. bellulus was also similar to those of A.randali and A. lobidens, two other species of snapping shrimp.