First record of the family Sphyrapodidae Guţu, 1980 (Crustacea: Peracarida: Apseudomorpha) with the description of a new species of Sphyrapus from the Colombian Caribbean

Andrés G Morales-Núñez; Catalina Morales-Ruiz; Néstor E Ardila

doi:10.7717/peerj.3947

First record of the family Sphyrapodidae Guţu, 1980 (Crustacea: Peracarida: Apseudomorpha) with the description of a new species of Sphyrapus from the Colombian Caribbean

PeerJ. 2017 Oct 19:5:e3947. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3947. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Andrés G Morales-Núñez¹, Catalina Morales-Ruiz², Néstor E Ardila²

Affiliations

¹ NSF-CREST Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal Ecosystem Processes and Dynamics in the Mid-Atlantic Region (CISCEP), Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, USA.
² División de Biología Marina, ECOMAR Consultoría Ambiental, Bogotá, Colombia.

Abstract

A new sphyrapodid tanaidacean, Sphyrapus caribensis sp. nov. is described and a new record of Kudinopasternakia siegi is reported for the Colombian Caribbean based on samples collected during cruises in 2014-2015. The new species appears to be most closely related to the northeast Atlantic species, Sphyrapus malleolus. Sphyrapus caribensis can be distinguished from Sphyrapus malleolus by a combination of characters, including the maxillipedal basis without long distal seta, the number of setae on the distoventral margin of pereopods 1 and 2, and the number of plumose seta on the pleopod basis. A key for the separation of Sphyrapus species is presented.

Keywords: Caribbean; Colombia; Deep-sea; Kudinopasternakia; Sphyrapodidae; Sphyrapus caribensis; Tanaidacea.

Grants and funding

This research was partially supported by NSF CREST-CISCEP (Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology-Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal Ecosystem Processes and Dynamics in the Mid-Atlantic Region) grant No. 1036586. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.