Syllidae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) from the deep Mediterranean Sea, with the description of three new species

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4369 (2) ◽  
pp. 197 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOACHIM LANGENECK ◽  
LUIGI MUSCO ◽  
GIULIO BUSONI ◽  
ILARIA CONESE ◽  
STEFANO ALIANI ◽  
...  

Despite almost two centuries of research, the diversity of Mediterranean deep-sea environments remain still largely unexplored. This is particularly true for the polychaete family Syllidae. We report herein 14 species; among them, we describe Erinaceusyllis barbarae n. sp., Exogone sophiae n. sp. and Prosphaerosyllis danovaroi n. sp. and report Parexogone wolfi San Martín, 1991, Exogone lopezi San Martín, Ceberio & Aguirrezabalaga, 1996 and Anguillosyllis Day, 1963 for the first time from the Western Mediterranean, the latter based on a single individual likely belonging to an undescribed species. Moreover, we re-establish Syllis profunda Cognetti, 1955 based on type and new material. Present data, along with a critical analysis of available literature, show that Syllidae are highly diverse in deep Mediterranean environments, even though they are rarely reported, probably due to the scarce number of studies devoted to the size-fraction of benthos including deep-sea syllids. Most deep-sea Syllidae have wide distributions, which do not include shallow-waters. 100 m depth apparently represents the boundary between the assemblages dominated by generalist shallow water syllids like Exogone naidina Ørsted, 1843 and Syllis parapari San Martín & López, 2000, and those deep-water assemblages characterised by strictly deep-water species like Parexogone campoyi San Martín, Ceberio & Aguirrezabalaga, 1996, Parexogone wolfi San Martín, 1991 and Syllis sp. 1 (= Langerhansia caeca Katzmann, 1973). 

1991 ◽  
Vol 334 (1272) ◽  
pp. 481-562 ◽  

Twenty-five species and three subspecies of the family Thyasiridae (Bivalvia: Lucinacea) are described from the deep Atlantic. They belong to two genera and five subgenera. Eleven of the species and all of the subspecies are described for the first time. The number of demibranchs in the gill and shape of the lobes of the lateral body pouches are characteristic features which are additionally used to clarify taxonomic divisions that have been previously based on shell features alone. One species, Axinus grandis Verrill & Bush (1898), is thought to be the sole living representative of the predominantly Tertiary fossil genus Axinus Sowerby (1821). This genus has been regarded by most previous authors as a synonym of Thyasira Leach (1818). Axinus grandis , as here defined, is morphologically distinct from all other thyasirids and possesses primitive characters. It shows affinities to the lucinacean family Ungulinidae, suggesting that the Thyasiridae may have an origin close to the ungulinid stem. The morphology of the species described here is extremely conservative, all sharing a number of key features. The most important of these is the form of the lateral body pouches. Shell shape and morphology relate in part to different life habits. Some species which have vertically elongate shape are probably immobile deep-burrowers, while others, principally the smallest species, which are horizontally elongate are adapted for a more active existence. All are infaunal. The deep-water species are thought to be pre-adapted to life at depth through their ability to inhabit impoverished deoxygenated habitats. Few morphological differences could be detected between the populations of species that occur in both shallow and deep waters. The small size of all but a few species may be one of their greatest adaptive features. The greatest reduction in size and greatest simplification of morphology are seen in species of the subgenera Thyasira and Parathyasira . The subgenera Axinulus and Mendicula show the greatest radiation in deep water. The latter subgenera are thought to have arisen from the larger subgenera by neoteny. The thyasirids, unlike the deep-sea protobranch and septibranch bivalves, are predominantly inhabitants of slope depths. Very few are truly abyssal. Many have very wide depth distributions extending from shelf to abyssal depths. This, together with the production of planktotrophic larvae, has ensured that most thyasirid species, unlike other deep-sea bivalves, are very widely distributed. Thus species extend into Arctic waters, including the Norwegian Basin and into the Pacific and are truly cosmopolitan.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4429 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIO C.C. FERNANDEZ ◽  
PABLO R.D. RODRIGUEZ ◽  
GEORGE G. SANTOS ◽  
ULISSES PINHEIRO ◽  
GUILHERME MURICY

Since the 19th century the deep-sea sponges from Brazil have been studied and many of them are still being discovered. This study describes five species of tetillid sponges from deep waters of the Brazilian economic exclusive zone; three are new, one is a new occurrence, and another is a known species which is here analyzed. The new species found are: Cinachyrella clavaeformis sp. nov. from the Columbia Seamount (85 m depth), Cinachyrella strongylophora sp. nov. from the Almirante Saldanha Seamount (270 m depth) and Craniella curviclada sp. nov. from slope of the Espírito Santo Basin (500 m depth). The two new species of Cinachyrella possess microacanthoxeas like those found in Cinachyrella kuekenthali (Uliczka 1929); this last species occurs in Caribbean region (4–100 m depth) and in N, NE and SE Brazil (0.2–100 m depth). The type material of Craniella corticata (Boury-Esnault 1973); from NE Brazil (75 m depth), has been found to be a synonym of Cinachyrella kuekenthali. Craniella crustocorticata van Soest 2017; from the Guyana shelf and slope (618–500 m depth), is here reported from the slope of NE and SW Brazil (400–700 m depth). A disorganized choanosomal skeleton (in Cinachyrella clavaeformis sp. nov.), strongyles (in Cinachyrella strongylophora sp. nov.) and a single-layered cortex of tangential oxeas (in Craniella crustocorticata) are new diagnostic characters that have led us to propose slight amendments in the definitions of Cinachyrella Wilson 1925 and Craniella Schmidt 1870. We discuss these and other morphological characters as well as their usefulness in Tetillidae. The diversity, distribution and bathymetry of tetillid sponges from Brazil are discussed and our knowledge of the composition of deep-sea sponges (deeper than 100 m) off Brazil is updated. 


Author(s):  
Lisa A. Levin ◽  
Andrew J. Gooday ◽  
David W. James

A specimen of the deep-water, spatangoid urchin, Cystochinus loveni, wearing a costume of agglutinated protists, was collected from 3088 m in the Gulf of Alaska, north-east Pacific. Over 24 putative taxa of living and dead foraminiferans and xenophyophores, as well as a sipunculan, polychaete, tanaid, and two isopods, were collected from the dorsal surface of this single individual. This is the first report of a deep-sea urchin using rhizopod protists and it is proposed that the urchin acquires camouflage or benefits from increased specific gravity associated with the protistan cloak.


1983 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Whatley

Abstract. From a numerical analysis of deep water Neogene and Quaternary Ostracoda from D.S.D.P. sites in the S. W. Pacific, it is shown that the Miocene to Quaternary interval saw a large scale invasion by bathyal stocks of the abyss. This invasion was progressive and cumulative and resulted in abyssal faunas being much more diverse in the Quaternary than they had been in the Miocene. This major palaeoecological shift also occasioned a concommitant decline in bathyal faunas over the same interval. The breakdown of bathyal and abyssal isolation resulted from the Miocene onwards, in a progressive increase in the number of species which were able, contemporaneously, to live at both bathyal and abyssal palaeodepths.The study shows deep water faunas of this age to be much more diverse than previous studies have indicated. Ninety-one genera with autochthonous deep water species are encountered in this study. These genera are listed with the numbers of species of each genus and their depth distribution for Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary respectively. Overall species diversity declines from the Miocene to the Pliocene but steeply increases into the Quaternary. It is suggested that the Pliocene impoverishment may in part be an artefact, occasioned by abnormally high Miocene diversity.It is shown that the phenomena outlined above are, to varying degrees, illustrated by all of the 6 groups into which the fauna is divided. It is suggested that certain of these phenomena, such as the major downslope migration from the Miocene onwards, may be detectable in other parts of the world’s oceans.


Author(s):  
Horia R. Galea

Two new genera and nine new species of hydroids are described based on deep-water material collected from off New Caledonia during various expeditions of the French Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos program. Caledoniana gen. nov., provisionally included in the family Sertulariidae Lamouroux, 1812, presently comprises three new species, viz. C. alata sp. nov., C. decussata sp. nov., and C. microgona sp. nov., while an additional group of three new species, is accommodated in the new sertulariid genus Solenoscyphus gen. nov.: S. candelabrum sp. nov., S. decidualis sp. nov., and S. striatus sp. nov. Furthermore, three new species of Hincksella Billard, 1918 (family Syntheciidae Marktanner-Turneretscher, 1890) are described, namely H. cornuta sp. nov., H. neocaledonica sp. nov., and H. similis sp. nov.


Author(s):  
H. Zibrowius

Three deep-water species of the north-eastern Atlantic have been studied: Caryophyllia abyssorum Duncan, 1873, C. calveri Duncan, 1873, C. sarsiae n.sp. Of these only C. abyssorum has not been found in the Mediterranean. In the north-eastern Atlantic these species appear characteristic of somewhat different depths, but occasionally can be found together. Obtained by early deep-sea expeditions (“Porcupine” cruise of 1870, cruises of Prince Albert I of Monaco), all three species have been previously confused and assigned, chiefly, to the little-known fossil species C. arcuata and C. cylindracea. In order to show the world-wide confusion about C. arcuata, some other records, from Cape Verde Islands to Japan through Antarctica, are quoted.


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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-218
Author(s):  
A.V. Gorochov

Malgasia marmorata (Saussure, 1899) is redescribed on the base of the type specimens and new material. Three new species from Seychelles and Madagascar, M. seychellensis sp. nov., M. minutissima sp. nov. and M. grisea sp. nov. are described.


2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Zatoń ◽  
Wojciech Krawczyński

Tentaculitoid microconchid tubeworms from Devonian (uppermost Emsian-upper Givetian) deposits of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, include three new species from stratigraphically well-constrained lithological units:Polonoconchus skalensisn. gen. n. sp.,Palaeoconchus sanctacrucensisn. sp. andMicroconchus vinnin. sp. The microconchids inhabited fully marine environments during transgressive pulses, as is evidenced from facies and associated fossils.Polonoconchus skalensisn. gen. n. sp. andPalaeoconchus sanctacrucensisn. sp. inhabited secondary firm- to hard-substrates in deeper-water, soft-bottom environments. They developed planispiral, completely substrate-cemented tubes and planispiral tubes with elevated apertures, which is indicative of environments where sedimentation rate is low but competition for space (by overgrowth) may be high.Microconchus vinnin. sp., on the other hand, developed a helically coiled distal portion of the tube as a response to a high sedimentation rate. As the taxonomic composition of Devonian microconchids is poorly recognized at both regional and global scales, this new material contributes significantly to our understanding of the diversity of these extinct tube-dwelling encrusters.


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