Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi lampeye!

lampeye wrote:This would be a good place for some clarification. I've seen cherry shrimp referred to as Neocaridina heteropoda v. "red" on other forums - is N. heteropoda a junior synonym of N. denticulata, or was N. denticulata ssp sinensis elevated to species level? Or, is there some contention as the cherry shrimp's true identity?

Neocaridina denticulata sinensis was separated from N. denticulata by Liang in 2002 basing on a sexual dimorphism of the pereiopods. Liang named this "new species" N. heteropoda. So N. denticulata sinensis is a senior synonym of N. heteropoda. Regardless to any color variant.

Cheers
Werner

wklotz wrote:Neocaridina denticulata sinensis was separated from N. denticulata by Liang in 2002 basing on a sexual dimorphism of the pereiopods.

This is exactly the reason why I am against using small, very insignificant external differences to make a whole new species from a subspecies. This is It's like saying we have a new species of human based on the shape of someone's nose or the length of someone's limbs, although genetically there is barely any difference. Let's hope that genetic testing will clarify things in the future. The "classical" classification methods, based on physical features, are terribly obsolete and error-prone.