Böttger-Schnack, R. (2011). Taxonomic re-examination and distribution of copepods reported as Oncaea notopus Giesbrecht, 1891 (Copepoda, Oncaeidae) in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biodiversity 41: 325-341

149795

10.1007/s12526-010-0072-x [view]

Böttger-Schnack, R.

2011

41:325-341.

Publication

Available for editors   [request]

A new species of the pelagic marine copepod family Oncaeidae, Oncaea serrulata, is described from the Mediterranean Sea. The species belongs to the notopus-group of Oncaeidae, which are characterized by a long free exopod on leg 5. It differs from Oncaea notopus Giesbrecht, 1891 and any other described species of this group by a combination of morphological characters, including (1) the relative lengths of distal endopod spines on swimming legs 2 and 3, (2) the denticulate ornamentation of the exopod segment and the two exopodal setae on leg 5, (3) the proportional lengths of the caudal setae, and (4) the comparatively small body length. The species occurs widespread in the Mediterranean Sea in mesopelagic and deep-sea layers down to 3000 m depth and was also found in near-bottom sediment traps moored at a bottom depth of 2347 m in the Ligurian Sea. O. serrulata appears to be the only representative of the notopus-group in the Mediterranean Sea and seems to have consistently been confounded with the allegedly cosmopolitan O. notopus Giesbrecht in most earlier studies in this area. The taxonomic history of Giesbrecht´s O. notopus, which was originally described from the Pacific, is summarized and morphological identification parameters applicable for the species identification of notopus-type oncaeids are discussed. In the future, identification may be facilitated by using genetic barcodes in comparison to those recently analyzed for the mediterranean O. serrulata (as Oncaea sp. 7 sensu Böttger-Schnack, 1997). Published data on the zoogeographical and vertical distribution as well as the abundance of notopus-type oncaeids in the Mediterranean Sea are reviewed. Possible causes for the lack of positive records of this taxon in mediterranean studies earlier than 1980 are discussed.

Mediterranean Sea in general

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