A new species of the deep-sea genus Bresilia (Crustacea : Decapoda : Bresiliidae) discovered from a shallow-water cave in Madeira

During a recent survey of the biodiversity of shallow-water aphotic marine caves of Madeira Island (north-east Atlantic), 12 specimens of the rare deep-sea shrimp genus Bresilia (Caridea: Bresiliidae) were collected from a depth of 15 m. The collected shrimps are described and illustrated as Bresilia saldanhai sp. nov., increasing to five known species of the genus. Morphological characters are compared and discussed, and an updated world key for the genus Bresilia is presented. For the first time, a species of this poorly known genus can be described from a significant number of intact specimens. This occurrence once more demonstrates the strong environmental similarities and evolutionary ties between marine caves and the deep sea.