Lubinevsky H., Tom M., Bird G. (2022). Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Peracarida) from soft-sediment shelf habitats off the Mediterranean coast of Israel (Levant Sea) –taxonomy, faunistics and ecological aspects. Mediterranean Marine Science.
Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Peracarida) from soft-sediment shelf habitats off the Mediterranean coast of Israel (Levant Sea) –taxonomy, faunistics and ecological aspects
Mediterranean Marine Science
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A 74-year zoogeographic and faunistic description of the shelf soft substrate peracaridan Tanaidacea along the Israeli coast,
the eastern-most part of the Mediterranean, is provided here. The presence of three apseudomorphan and ten tanaidomorphan
families, with 28 species, is recorded, of which four are reported from the region for the first time, and five are new species in
the genera Araphura, Nippognathiopsis, Paratyphlotanais, and Typhlotanais. In addition, a new genus is established for Akanthophoreus
nanopsenos, Leptochelia tanykeraia is redescribed, and the presence of Chondrochelia savignyi is demonstrated. The
tanaid shelf community essentially belongs to the Mediterranean zoogeographic province but has several Mediterranean-Atlantic
species. Lessepsian (Erythrean) migration is currently indicated by the presence of one species, the Indo-Pacific kalliapseudid
Cristapseudes omercooperi, which has established a population in the studied area. Its settlement strategy is demonstrated and
discussed. The poor Indo-Pacific representation is possibly due to the lack of planktonic larvae in this peracarid group, reducing
the chance of dispersion or transport from the Indo-Pacific realm via the Suez Canal.