Palaemon vicinus spec. nov. (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae), a new species of caridean shrimp from the tropical eastern Atlantic

A new species of Palaemon, P. vicinus spec. nov., is described from the tropical eastern Atlantic. The new species is very close to P. elegans Rathke, 1837, under which name it was previously recorded from West Africa. Palaemon vicinus spec. nov. is easily separated from P. elegans by possessing a small tooth on the fifth abdominal pleuron (quadrate in P. elegans) and by having 2-3 rows of setae in the grooming brush of the fifth pereiopod (4-5 in P. elegans). The discovery of the new species amongst material identified as P. elegans further highlights the need to reassess species level characters in the genus Palaemon.