Oahutanais makalii, a new genus and species of colletteid tanaidacean (Crustacea, Peracarida) from shelf-waters off Hawaii, with a taxonomic key
Author
Morales-Nunez, Andres G.
NSF CREST Center for the Integrated Study of Coastal Ecosystem Processes and Dynamics in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853, USA
Author
Larsen, Kim
ENSPAC Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, 11.2, Roskilde University Center. DK- 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Author
Cooke, William J.
Marine Environmental Research, Kailua. Hawaii, 96734; Ad hoc Faculty Biology Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa, HI 96822, USA
text
Zoosystematics and Evolution
2016
2016-01-08
92
1
1
12
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zse.92.5581
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zse.92.5581
1860-0743-1-1
F8F8D8A7BBD54A5881EC48DA1B09A88B
322136E869D651889D4B4091B4D5A272
575764
Oahutanais
gen. n.
Generic diagnosis.
Female
: Small, 0.8-0.9 mm, slender body, parallel-sided. Carapace extending laterally to cover (dorsally) the cheliped attachments. Carapace not connected with the cheliped sclerites Pereonites wider than long. Antennule with four articles and minute terminal segment, shorter than carapace, article-2 with dorsal symmetric projection overlapping basal part of article-3, terminal segment minute and covered by article-4 (only visible with scanning electron microscope image). Antenna with six articles. Labium without distolateral spines. Maxillule with seven distal spiniform setae (two bifid); maxillipedal palp article-2 with geniculate, finely-pectinate spiniform seta on distal inner margin (serrations visible at magnification 100
x
). Cheliped attached via sclerite just anterior to the posterior margin of the cephalothorax, very close to the midventral line. Pereopods 1 to 6 attached ventrally. Pereopods 1-3 relatively slender; ischial seta shorter than merus. Pereopods 4-6 not stouter than pereopods 1-3; ischial setae shorter than merus. Pleopods absent in females. Uropods longer than pleotelson; basal article shorter than pleotelson, without distal apophyses; exopod uni-articulated, slightly longer than endopod article-1.
Male
unknown.
Type species.
Oahutanais makalii
sp. n.
Etymology.
Named after
"O'ahu
Island", where the material used in this study was collected, plus suffix - tanais.
Gender.
Masculine.
Distribution.
Hawaii Islands at depths ranging from 19 to 102 meters.
Remarks.
The family
Colletteidae
has been considered as polyphyletic (
Larsen and Wilson 2002
;
Blazewicz-Paszkowycz
and Poore 2008
;
Blazewicz-Paszkowycz
et al. 2013
) and it is currently composed of 15 genera (WoRMS); unfortunately, most of the genera included within this diverse family need revision (e.g.
Leptognathiella
Hansen, 1913 and
Filitanais
Kudinova-Pasternak, 1973). The females of
Oahutanais
gen. n. can be identified by having a small body (less than 1 mm in length of reproductively active specimens), cheliped attached just anterior to the posterior margin of the cephalothorax, very close to the midventral line, not in contact with carapace lateral margin, and pereopods 1 to 6 attached ventrally.
Oahutanais
gen. n. appears to be most closely related to the genera,
Leptognathiella
Bird and Holdich, 1984 from the Atlantic or Gulf of
Mexico
(
Larsen 2005
;
Larsen et al. 2006
),
Leptognathiopsis
Holdich & Bird, 1986 from the North Atlantic (
Holdich and Bird 1986
), and several species of
Leptognathia
G.O. Sars, 1882
sensu stricto
(see
Larsen and Shimomura 2007
: 12) in having pereonites wider than long, pointed molars, females without pleopods (only in some species of
Leptognathiella
and
Leptognathia
), and uropod structure. However, the
Oahutanais
can be distinguished from the Atlantic species of
Leptognathiopsis
and
Leptognathiella
by having 1) the maxilliped palp article-2 with geniculate, finely pectinate spiniform seta on sub-distal margin, 2) pereopods 1-3 with basis slender, and 3) pereopod ischial setae shorter than merus.
The new genus also shows similarities with the monotypic genus
Nippognathiopsis
Blazewicz-Paszkowycz
, Bamber &
Jozwiak
, 2013, recently described from 517-1356 m in waters off Japan. However,
Oahutanais
can be differentiated by 1) its pereonites are wider than long, 2) the antennal article-1 is longer than the distal three articles and minute terminal segment combined (shorter in
Nippognathiopsis
), 3) the maxilliped endites have a medial small process (two oval tubercles in
Nippognathiopsis
), 4) the maxilliped palp article-2 has a geniculate, finely pectinate spiniform seta on the sub-distal margin, and 5) pereopods 1-6 are slender. Although the presence of the geniculate, finely pectinate spiniform seta in the maxilliped palp article-2 separates
Oahutanais
from the other genera within the family
Colletteidae
, it is possible that this spiniform seta has been overlooked in the original description of
Nippognathiopsis
, as well as in other colletteids due to their small overall size. Unfortunately, no information is available on the form of the cheliped attachment in
Nippognathiopsis
.
Bird and Larsen (2009)
mentioned that this character, the cheliped-cephalothorax attachment position, is an important feature that has been overlooked or has not been recorded or illustrated by many authors, even today. So far within the family
Colletteidae
, only
Blazewicz-Paszkowycz
and Bamber (2012)
and this study have included detailed information and illustrations showing the real point of insertion of the cheliped and how far it is located from pereonite-1. Thus,
Oahutanais
can be separated from
Bascestus
Blazewicz-Paszkowycz
& Bamber, 2012 by having 1) the cheliped attached just anterior to the posterior margin of the cephalothorax (more anterior in
Bascestus
), 2) females without pleopods (pleopods present in
Bascestus
), and 3) exopod uni-articulated (bi-articulated in
Bascestus
).
The ventral cheliped attachment without contact with the carapace lateral margin (Fig.
8B-C
) is an interesting
and
rare character among tanaidomorphans, and it has so far only been recorded from another colletteid,
Isopodidus
Larsen & Heard, 2002, but this highly modified genus differs in many other aspects from
Oahutanais
.