Revision of the species of Caridina (Decapoda: Atyidae) from the Western Indian Ocean islands with description of a new species

We provide an updated checklist and an identification key of the species of Caridina living in freshwater habitats of the Western Indian Ocean islands, including the Seychelles, the Comoros, Mayotte, La Réunion and Mauritius. We list six species including one new for science: Caridina mauritii, Caridina spathulirostris, Caridina similis, Caridina natalensis, Caridina typus and Caridina henriettae sp. nov. Molecular and morphological evidence led us to consider Caridina richtersii as a junior synonym of C. spathulirostris. Due to different life histories, some species are endemic to their island or archipelago, like C. mauritii and C. spathulirostris, endemic to Mauritius, or C. similis endemic to the Seychelles, whereas others have a wider distribution in the Western Indian Ocean like C. natalensis or C. henriettae sp. nov. or have an Indo-West Pacific distribution like C. typus.