A new species of Parameiropsis Becker, 1974 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from the Porcupine Seabight (North-East Atlantic O
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ORIGINAL PAPER
A new species of Parameiropsis Becker, 1974 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from the Porcupine Seabight (North-East Atlantic Ocean) Paulo Henrique Costa Corgosinho & Hendrik Gheerardyn
Received: 25 October 2008 / Revised: 17 December 2008 / Accepted: 4 January 2009 / Published online: 27 February 2009 # Senckenberg, Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Springer 2009
Abstract A new species of Parameiropsis Becker, 1974 is described from the Porcupine Seabight and questions about the position of this genus within Harpacticoida are briefly addressed. The new species is the smallest representative of the genus and extends the depth and distribution range of Parameiropsis to 880 m and 51°25.9’N. Parameiropsis antennafortis sp. n. differs from the known species (viz. P. rapiens Becker, 1974, P. peruanus Becker, 1974 and P. magnus Itô, 1983) basically in total body size, shape of labrum, robustness of A2, armature of mouthparts and P1P5, shape of P5 and shape of copulatory pore and tube. Additionally, the new species has the apical elements of P1 enp-3 transformed into a unipinnate spine, a spiniform outer terminal seta and a miniaturized inner terminal seta. This condition is not homologous to the Podogennonta pattern. Parameiropsis do not show any decisive character supporting the inclusion of this genus within Ameiridae and is considered here an incertae sedis taxon within Harpacticoida. Keywords Boxcorer . Deep-sea . New species . Morphological taxonomy
P. H. C. Corgosinho (*) Deutsches Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätsforschung, Senckenberg Forschungsintitut und Naturmuseum, Südstrand 44, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany e-mail: [email protected] H. Gheerardyn Marine Biology Section, Biology Department, Ghent University, Campus Sterre – Building S8, Krijgslaan 281, 9000 Ghent, Belgium e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Samples containing one or few individuals are a typical situation for the deep-sea benthos and is related to the relatively high evenness in the distribution of species’ abundances (e.g. Thistle 1978; Boucher and Lambshead 1995; Gage 1996). Therefore, more extensive samplings are necessary to collect more specimens of each species for the assessment of intraspecific variability. Nevertheless, the description of new species based on single specimens can supply substantial phylogenetical information (e.g. Seifried and Schminke 2003). The species composition and diversity of harpacticoid copepods associated with dead cold-water coral substrates in the Porcupine Seabight (NE Atlantic) has recently been investigated (H. Gheerardyn, M. De Troch, M. Vincx and A. Vanreusel, manuscript submitted). In total, 860 adult harpacticoids (157 species belonging to 62 genera and 19 families) were identified from the coral degradation zone of Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) reefs in the Belgica Mound Province. Deep-sea harpacticoids are characterised by high species diversity and low species dominance (Seifried 2004; Rose et al. 2005), and the assemblage in the Porcupine Seabight is not an except
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