Wittmann & Chevaldonné 2021
Wittmann & Chevaldonné 2021
WITTMANN, K.J., 2021. First report of the order Mysida (Crustacea) in Antarctic marine ice caves, with description of a new species of Pseudomma and investigations on the taxonomy, morphology and life habits of Mysidetes species. ZooKeys, 1079: 145–227; Suppl.
https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/76412/
https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1079.76412
SCUBA diving explorations of three islands off Dumont d’Urville Station at the coast of Adélie Land, East Antarctica, enabled the observation of marine ice caves. Sampling in this unusual habitat yielded a total of three species of Mysidae, altogether previously poorly known or unknown to science. Pseudomma kryotroglodytum sp. nov. is described, based on the structure of the antennal scale, telson and on cornea-like lateral portions set off against the main body of eyeplates. Mysidetes illigi is re-established at species level after almost a century in synonymy. Re-descriptions are provided for M. illigi and M. hanseni, based on types and ice cave materials. Keys to the Southern Ocean species of Pseudomma and to the world-wide species of Mysidetes are given.
Phylogenetic trees are provided for the genera Pseudomma and Mysidetes. 18S rDNA sequences of P. kryotroglodytum differ from GenBank sequences of other Pseudomma species. First sequence data are given for species of the genus Mysidetes: 18S differs between the two examined species and COI is quite diverse between and within species.
We found previously unknown, probably sensorial structures in these ice cave species: in P. kryotroglodytum, the basal segment of the antennula shows a pit-like depression with striated pad on the bottom and a median cyst, connected with the bottom of the eyeplate cleft. M. illigi shows a female homologue of the appendix masculina bearing a field of modified setae. Subsequent investigations demonstrated these structures also in species from other habitats.
The feeding apparatus and stomach contents of the three ice cave species point to brushing of small particles (detritus, microalgae) from available surfaces, such as sediment, rock and the ice surface. Differences in the feeding apparatus are very subtle between the two Mysidetes species. The high content of fat bodies in M. hanseni could help it to survive periods of starvation. The large storage volume of the foregut in P. kryotroglodytum points to the collection of food with low nutritional quality and could help to balance strongly fluctuating food availability.
Summer specimens of M. hanseni showed a bimodal frequency of developmental stages in the marsupium and bimodal size-frequency distribution of free-living stages. The females with younger brood (embryos) were, on average, larger and carried more marsupial young than those with older brood (nauplioid larvae). All examined incubating and spent females showed (almost) empty foreguts and empty ovarian tubes, suggesting possible semelparity and death following the release of young. The absence of juveniles and immature females from summer samples suggests that growth and accumulation of fat and yolk occur outside ice caves, while such caves could be used by fattened adults as shelter for brooding. A provisional interpretation proposes a biannual life cycle for M. hanseni, superimposed with shifted breeding schedules, the latter characterised by early breeding and late breeding females, probably in response to harsh physical and trophic conditions along the continental coast of Antarctica.
development; feeding; key to species; life cycle; marine caves; molecular systematics; polar biology; sensory organs
Amblyops abbreviatus, Amblyops tattersalli, Antarctomysis maxima, Antarctomysis ohlinii, Dactylamblyops hodgsoni, Dactylamblyops iii, Dactylamblyops murrayi, Dactylamblyops sp. A, Erythrops microps, Eulagisca uschakovi, Hansenomysis antarcticus, Harmelinella mariannae, Heteromysis ekamako, Heteromysis proxima, Heteromysis sabelliphila, Holmesiella affinis, Ischiomysis peterwirtzi, Meterythrops pictus, Michthyops parvus, Mysidetes anomala, Mysidetes antarctica, Mysidetes brachylepis, Mysidetes crassa, Mysidetes dimorpha, Mysidetes farrani, Mysidetes halope, Mysidetes hanseni, Mysidetes illigi, Mysidetes intermedia, Mysidetes kerguelensis, Mysidetes macrops, Mysidetes microps, Mysidetes morbihanensis, Mysidetes patagonica, Mysidetes peruana, Mysidetes posthon, Mysidetes similis, Mysifaun erigens, Mysis diluviana, Mysis mixta, Mysis relicta, Pagothenia borchgrevinki, Pseudomma aff. marumoi, Pseudomma affine, Pseudomma antarcticum, Pseudomma armatum, Pseudomma australe, Pseudomma belgicae, Pseudomma bellingshausensis, Pseudomma bispinicaudum, Pseudomma brevisquamosum, Pseudomma calmani, Pseudomma crassidentatum, Pseudomma frigidum, Pseudomma intermedium, Pseudomma izuensis, Pseudomma kruppi, Pseudomma kryotroglodytum, Pseudomma lamellicaudum, Pseudomma latiphthalmum, Pseudomma longicaudum, Pseudomma longisquamosum, Pseudomma maasakii, Pseudomma magellanensis, Pseudomma matsuei, Pseudomma melandi, Pseudomma minutum, Pseudomma oculospinum, Pseudomma roseum, Pseudomma sarsii, Pseudomma schollaertensis, Pseudomma surugae, Pseudomma truncatum