scholarly journals Relict from the Jurassic: new family of brittle-stars from a New Caledonian seamount

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1953) ◽  
pp. 20210684
Author(s):  
Timothy D. O'Hara ◽  
Ben Thuy ◽  
Andrew F. Hugall

The deep-seafloor in the tropical Indo-Pacific harbours a rich and diverse benthic fauna with numerous palaeoendemics. Here, we describe a new species, genus and family of brittle-star (Ophiuroidea) from a single eight-armed specimen collected from a depth between 360 and 560 m on Banc Durand, a seamount east of New Caledonia. Leveraging a robust, fossil-calibrated (265 kbp DNA) phylogeny for the Ophiuroidea, we estimate the new lineage diverged from other ophiacanthid families in the Late Triassic or Jurassic (median = 187–178 Myr, 95% CI = 215–143 Myr), a period of elevated diversification for this group. We further report very similar microfossil remains from Early Jurassic (180 Myr) sediments of Normandy, France. The discovery of a new ancient lineage in the relatively well-known Ophiuroidea indicates the importance of ongoing taxonomic research in the deep-sea, an environment increasingly threatened by human activities.

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
František Moravec ◽  
Jean-Lou Justine

AbstractExaminations of materials of trichinelloid nematodes recently collected from the digestive tract of marine fishes off New Caledonia, South Pacific, revealed the presence of several species of the families Capillariidae and Trichosomoididae, including capillariids Pseudocapillaria novaecaledoniensis sp. nov. from the deep-sea Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes) (Lutjanidae) and Pseudocapillaria echenei (Parukhin, 1967) from Echeneis naucrates Linnaeus (Echeneidae), and the trichosomoidid Huffmanela sp. (female) from Bodianus perditio (Quoy et Gaimard) (Labridae). P. novaecaledoniensis is characterized mainly by the structure and length (318–321 µm) of spicule and the presence of a dorsal cuticular membrane interconnecting both ventrolateral caudal lobes in the male (subgenus Ichthyocapillaria Moravec, 1982). The previously poorly known P. echenei is redescribed and recorded for the first time from the South Pacific Ocean. In addition, five morphologically different types of capillariid females without generic identification, designated as Capillariidae gen. spp. 1–5, each of them probably representing a new species, were recorded from Fistularia commersonii Rüppell (Fistulariidae), Synodus dermatogenys Fowler (Synodontidae), Carangoides oblongus (Cuvier) (Carangidae), Diagramma pictum (Thunberg) (Haemulidae) and Stegostoma fasciatum (Hermann) (Stegostomidae), respectively. Capillaria decapteri is transferred to Pseudocapillaria Mendonça, 1963 as P. decapteri (Luo, 2001) comb. nov.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4695 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-44
Author(s):  
HYUN KYONG KIM ◽  
BENNY K.K. CHAN ◽  
LAURE CORBARI ◽  
PAULA A. RODRIGUEZ MORENO ◽  
YAIR ACHITUV ◽  
...  

The present study describes a new species of Pyrgoma Leach, 1817, a coral associated barnacle attached to Tubastrea, from the south of New Caledonia. Pyrgoma spurtruncata sp. nov. is morphologically close to P. cancellatum Leach, 1818, P. japonica Weltner, 1897 and P. kuri Hoek, 1913 in the absence of extended tergal muscle crests. Pyrgoma cancellatum and P. kuri have a shallow, fully open, medial furrow of the tergal spur, whereas in P. spurtruncata sp. nov. the medial furrow is deeper and closed. Pyrgoma spurtruncata sp. nov. differs from P. japonica Weltner, 1897 in the width of the tergal spur and the length of the rostral tooth of the scutum. Phylogenetic analyses based on two mitochondrial markers, 12S rDNA and COI, confirm a unique, distinct clade of P. spurtruncata sp. nov. among the current available molecular information regarding Pyrgoma species. 


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 1084-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángel Valdés

There are six valid species in the traditional genus Bathydoris, all of them found in polar or deep waters: Bathydoris abyssorum Bergh, 1884 (from the deep equatorial Pacific Ocean), Bathydoris ingolfiana Bergh, 1899 (from Greenland), Bathydoris hodgsoni Eliot, 1907 (from Antarctic and subantarctic waters), Bathydoris clavigera Thiele, 1912 (from the Argentinean deep-sea basin and Antarctica), Bathydoris aioca Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus, 1962 (from deep waters off California), and a new species, Bathydoris spiralis (from deep waters off New Caledonia). Bathydoris patagonica Kaiser, 1980 and Bathydoris violacea Baranets, 1993 are regarded as synonyms of B. hodgsoni and B. clavigera, respectively. Bathydoris spiralis is clearly distinguishable from other members of the genus mainly in having a triaulic reproductive system and a very elongated, spirally coiled deferent duct. Examination of the holotype of B. violacea revealed that it is a synonym of B. clavigera. Bathydoris vitjazi Minichev, 1969 is most likely a synonym of B. hodgsoni, but is provisionally regarded as nomen dubium until more material becomes available. The phylogenetic hypothesis supports the monophyly of the Anthobranchia but shows that the genus Bathydoris is paraphyletic. Species of Bathydoris are divided into two clades, one of them also containing the phanerobranch and cryptobranch dorids. Bathydoris type species B. abyssorum retains its name and diagnosis, but B. clavigera and B. spiralis are excluded from this genus. They are, however, provisionally maintained in "Bathydoris" s.l., a likely paraphyletic group. This result shows some incongruities between the traditional nomenclatural system and phylogenetic systematics.


Author(s):  
Bella S. Galil

The collection of deep-sea pebble crabs (Leucosioidea) during the BIOPAPUA Expedition, comprising 8 species, including a species new to science, is significant because although the previously described species had not been recorded from the Bismarck and western Solomon Seas, they occurred in at least one nearby location (New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Is). Praebebalia fungifera sp. nov. is described and illustrated. It differs from its closest congener, P. septemspinosa Sakai, 1983, in bearing fungiform granules dorsally on carapace, shorter chelipeds, the relatively stout male first gonopod with a preapical row of setae and the beak-like tip, as compared to the rounded granules dorsally on the carapace, greatly elongate chelipeds and the slim, elongate, distally curved gonopod of P. septemspinosa, preapically set with very long setae and a hook-like tip.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2787 (1) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROGER N BAMBER

Deep-sea pycnogonid material collected during the N/O Alis Campagnes Norfolk 2 to New Caledonia in 2003 and Salomon 2 to the Solomon Islands in 2004, together with two samples from the BOA0 and BOA1 Campagnes to Vanuatu in 2004–2005, has been analyzed. This includes only the second collection of deep-sea pycnogonids from the Solomon Islands. The material includes 22 specimens from seven species from New Caledonia, taken at depths from 265 to 1150 m, 95 specimens from 14 species from the Solomon islands, at depths from 336 to 1218 m, and two specimens of one species from Vanuatu (864–927 m depth). The first male of Ascorhynchus constrictus is described, including the first description of the anterior legs. A new species of Ascorhynchus is partially described, but not named owing to its incompleteness. Seven of the species are new to the Melanesia region, including a notable range-extension for Colossendeis tasmanica. The local zoogeography of these deep-water species is discussed.


Author(s):  
Modest Guţu ◽  
Thomas Iliffe

Leptochelia Vatulelensis(Crustacea: Tanaidacea), A New Species From Anchialine Caves of the South-Western PacificLeptochelia vatulelensisn. sp., discovered on the small islands of Vatulele (Fijian group) and Ouvéa (Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia), is described and illustrated. The new species is distinguished from the others of the"Leptochelia-dubiagroup" (to which it is generally similar) by the following combination of morphological characteristics: (1) the presence of three to four distal setae on the maxilliped basis; (2) merus of pereopods III and IV with only a distosternal seta; (3) endopod of the uropods formed of four (rarely three) articles; (4) males with two (sometimes three) relatively short aesthetascs on the first five articles of the antennular flagellum; (5) male cheliped with a diminished dimorphism; (6) males with a vertical comb-row of setae on the cheliped propodus. Although it inhabits inland, anchialine caves, the new species lacks morphological features that are characteristic of some cave species.


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4329 (5) ◽  
pp. 477 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHIEN-HUI YANG ◽  
APPUKUTTANNAIR BIJU KUMAR ◽  
TIN-YAM CHAN

A new species of slipper lobster of the genus Petrarctus Holthuis, 2002 was discovered from southwestern India during a survey of deep sea crustaceans. The new species closely resembles P. veliger Holthuis, 2002 from the Andaman Sea and western Pacific but differs mainly in the color marking on abdominal somite I, having a relatively lower cardiac tooth but with better developed tubercles on the abdomen, as well as a differently shaped anterior part of the thoracic sternum. Molecular genetic analysis also confirms the distinct taxonomic status of the new species. To fix the identity of the type species of the genus, a neotype of P. rugosus (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) was selected from a recently collected Indian specimen with color and genetic information. 


1925 ◽  
Vol s2-69 (276) ◽  
pp. 703-729
Author(s):  
W. N. F. WOODLAND

1. Those species of Proteocephalid Cestodes in which the testes are situated in the cortex may be described as of the Monticellia type. Of this type there are three conditions : (a) the Monticellia condition in which the testes, uterus, ovary, and vitellaria are all situated in the cortex; (b) the Rudolphiella condition in which the testes and vitellaria alone are in the cortex, the other organs being entirely or almost entirely in the medulla ; and (c) the Marsypocephalus condition in which the testes alone are in the cortex, all other organs being medullary. Fuhrmann's genus Goezeella is synonymous with Monticellia if we ignore the characters of the scolex as features of generic value. 2. The anatomy of two species of Marsypocephalus is described: Marsypocephalus rectangulus Wedl, 1862, and Marsypocephalus heterobranchus, n.sp., from Nile Siluroid fishes. 3. It is concluded that the cortical situation of the testes and other organs is a taxonomic feature of generic value only (as in Pseudophyllidea in the case of the vitellaria) and La Rue's new family of the Monticellidae, created to include Monticellia-like forms, is not accepted. Monticellia, Rudolphiella, and Marsypocephalus are thus regarded as new genera in the Proteocephalidae. 4. The facts that the ‘Corallobothrium’ type of scolex is found in all of the three genera Monticellia (as amended by me and including ‘Goezeella’ siluri, Fuhrmann), Rudolphiella, and Proteocephalus (as amended by me and including ‘Corallobothrium’ solidum, Fritsch), and that in the Caryophyllaeidae, Bothriocephalidae, and Cyclophyllidea (cf. e.g. Taenia solium and Taenia saginata) minor scolex characters are evidently only features of specific value, compel us to delete such genera as Corallobothrium, Choanoscolex, Acanthotaenia, and my own recent genus Gangesia and to regard them as synonyms of Proteocephalus (La Rue's genus ‘Ophiotaenia’, syn. ‘Crepidobothrium’, not being accepted). Fuhrmann's Goezeella siluri becomes Monticellia siluri, and Fritach's Corallobothrium solidum becomes Proteocephalus solidus. The genera of the Proteocephalidae are thus four in number: Proteocephalus , Monticellia, Rudolphiella , and Marsypocep, halus, and these are formally or informally redefined. The two species of Marsypocephalus are diagnosed. 5. The ‘Taenia malopteruri’ of Fritsch, 1886, is not of the Monticellia type, as suggested by La Rue. Its structure is of the usual Proteocephalid type, save that the scolex possesses a rostellum and a broad band of hooklets and is covered with spinelets. It is renamed Proteocephalus malopteruri. 6. A new species of Clestobothrium--Clestobothrium clarias, from Clarias anguillaris Günth-is described. It is of interest, not only as being the third (second ?) species known of the genus, but because it affords one more illustration of the fact that the characters of the scolex cannot be used for diagnoses of genera. For this reason also, Lönnberg's genus Ptychobothrium (1889) becomes synonymous with Diesing's genus Polyonchobothrium (1884).


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