[1] This species is closest to Palaemonella lata, which it resembles in the broad scaphocerite in which the lamella overreaches the final tooth, and in the unarmed merus of the second pereiopods.

It is named after John A. Burns, Governor of Hawaii, for declaring the Ahiki Kinau area a nature reserve.

The telson is elongate and triangular, ending in a narrow rounded posterior margin which bears the usual three pairs of spines.

The lamella is approximately of an equal width in the distal half and does not noticeably narrow near the top.

The maxillula has both laciniae slender and ending in bristles and spines; the palp is distinctly bifid.

The second legs are equal in shape, sometimes somewhat unequal in size; they reach with the chela or part of the carpus beyond the scaphocerite.

Teeth and spines, including those of the rostrum, carapace, tailfan and scaphocerite, show brownish tips.

[1] Palaemonella burnsi has been seen in Cape Kinau and the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii in small anchialine pools.