Penaeus is a genus of prawn

Prawn

Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...

s, including the giant tiger prawn

Penaeus monodon

Penaeus monodon, the giant tiger prawn , is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food.-Distribution:...

 (P. monodon), the most important species of farmed crustacean

Shrimp farm

A shrimp farm is an aquaculture business for the cultivation of marine shrimp or prawns for human consumption. Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the United States, Japan and Western Europe...

 worldwide. The genus has been reorganised following a proposition of Pérez Farfante and Kensley based on morphological

Morphology (biology)

In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....

 differences, in particular the genital characteristics of these animals, although this revision has not been universally accepted. Following the revision, many species formerly in the genus Penaeus have been reassigned to new genera in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Penaeidae

Penaeidae

Penaeidae is a family of prawns, although they are often referred to as penaeid shrimp. It contains many species of economic importance, such as the tiger prawn , whiteleg shrimp, Atlantic white shrimp and Indian prawn. Many prawns are the subject of commercial fishery, and farming, both in marine...

: Farfantepenaeus

Farfantepenaeus

Farfantepenaeus is a genus of prawns in the family Penaeidae. Its eight species  were formerly included in the genus Penaeus .-Species:*Farfantepenaeus aztecus — northern brown shrimp...

, Fenneropenaeus, Litopenaeus and Marsupenaeus. The following table gives an overview:

Old scientific name	New scientific name	Common name(s)
P. aztecus	Farfantepenaeus aztecus	northern brown shrimp
P. brasiliensis	Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis	redspotted shrimp, spotted pink shrimp
P. brevirostris	Farfantepenaeus brevirostris	crystal shrimp, pink shrimp
P. californiensis	Farfantepenaeus californiensis	yellowleg shrimp, brown shrimp
P. chinensis	Fenneropenaeus chinensis	fleshy prawn, Chinese white shrimp, oriental shrimp
P. duorarum	Farfantepenaeus duorarum	northern pink shrimp
P. esculentus	Penaeus esculentus Penaeus esculentus Penaeus esculentus is a species of prawn which is widely fished for consumption around Australia.-Ecology:...	brown tiger prawn
P. indicus	Fenneropenaeus indicus Indian prawn The Indian prawn, Fenneropenaeus indicus , is one of the major commercial prawn species of the world. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific from eastern and south-eastern Africa, through India, Malaysia and Indonesia to southern China and northern Australia.-Common names:F...	Indian prawn
P. japonicus	Marsupenaeus japonicus	Kuruma shrimp, Kuruma prawn, Japanese tiger shrimp
P. merguiensis	Fenneropenaeus merguiensis	banana shrimp, banana prawn
P. monodon	Penaeus monodon Penaeus monodon Penaeus monodon, the giant tiger prawn , is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food.-Distribution:...	giant tiger prawn, black tiger shrimp
P. notialis	Farfantepenaeus notialis	southern pink shrimp
P. occidentalis	Litopenaeus occidentalis	western white shrimp
P. paulensis	Farfantepenaeus paulensis	São Paulo shrimp, Carpas shrimp
P. penicillatus	Fenneropenaeus penicillatus	redtail prawn
P. schmitti	Litopenaeus schmitti	southern white shrimp
P. semisulcatus	Penaeus semisulcatus	green tiger prawn
P. setiferus	Litopenaeus setiferus	northern white shrimp
P. silasi	Fenneropenaeus silasi
P. stylirostris	Litopenaeus stylirostris	western blue shrimp, blue shrimp
P. subtilis	Farfantepenaeus subtilis	southern brown shrimp
P. vannamei	Litopenaeus vannamei Whiteleg shrimp Whiteleg shrimp , also known as Pacific white shrimp, is a variety of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.-Description:...	whiteleg shrimp, Pacific white shrimp

A few more species that are sometimes given as Penaeus spp. are actually assigned to the genus Melicertus

Melicertus

Melicertus is a genus of "king" prawns, comprising eight species:*Melicertus canaliculatus *Melicertus hathor Burkenroad, 1959*Melicertus kerathurus *Melicertus latisulcatus...

:

Invalid name	Valid scientific name	Common name(s)
P. canaliculatus	Melicertus canaliculatus	witch shrimp, tiger shrimp
P. kerathurus	Melicertus kerathurus	Caramote prawn, triple-grooved shrimp
P. latisculatus	Melicertus latisculatus	western king prawn
P. longistylus	Melicertus longistylus	redspot king prawn, red-spotted prawn
P. marginatus	Melicertus marginatus	Aloha prawn
P. plebejus	Melicertus plebejus	eastern king prawn