Pycnogonida (Arthropoda) from Uruguayan waters (Southwest Atlantic): annotated checklist and biogeographic considerations
Author
Scarabino, Fabrizio
Author
Lucena, Rudá Amorim
Author
Munilla, Tomás
Author
Soler-Membrives, Anna
Author
Ortega, Leonardo
Author
Schwindt, Evangelina
Author
López, Guzmán
Author
María, José
Author
Christoffersen, Martin Lidsey
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-01-24
4550
2
185
200
journal article
27492
10.11646/zootaxa.4550.2.2
2c967830-701d-424c-a044-d61885a8c2c5
1175-5326
2625249
AB41359C-FDBB-483C-B538-BD8D51F42FA2
Genus
Pallenopsis
Wilson, 1881
Remarks
: This genus has a long and complex taxonomic history in the southwest Atlantic, summarized by
Stock (1973
,
1975
).
Weis
et al
. (2014)
analysed the existence of a species-complex within the traditional concept of
Pallenopsis patagonica
(
Hoek, 1881
)
. In fact, they referred it as “one of the most taxonomically problematic and variable pycnogonid species known to date”.
Böhm (1879)
recorded
Pallenopsis fluminensis
(Kroyer, 1844)
(as
Phoxichilidium fluminensis
) from the Magellan Strait and Patagonia (
54.9–76.8 m
depth) based on material collected by the RV
Gazelle
in 1876, deposited in the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In the zoological report of the
Gazelle
expedition,
Studer (1889)
recorded that species (as
Pallene fluminensis
) from three stations, adding a third and deeper (
80.5 m
) record from the Uruguayan shelf.
Schimkewitsch (1930)
considered that Böhm’s specimens represent a new species:
Pallenopsis boehmi
.
Stock (1973)
redescribed this species, re-examining the material identified by Böhm as
P. fluminensis
(four specimens collected by the
Gazelle
), but considered that one specimen belongs to
P. patagonica
.
Stock (1973)
nominated a female specimen from the Magellan Strait as the
Lectotype
of
P. boehmi
. Due to insufficient labelling, it was not possible to establish which locality the specimen of
P. patagonica
belongs; either it was station LVII,
38°10.1´S–
56°26. 6´W,
54.9 m
depth, off
Buenos Aires Province
,
Argentina
, or it belongs to station LX,
34°43.7´S–
52°36.1´W
,
80.5 m
depth, Uruguayan shelf (
Stock 1973
;
Dunlop
et al
. 2007
). Therefore, the records of
Studer (1889)
for both localities remain uncertain. According to
Stock (1973
,
1992
),
P. boehmi
has a geographical distribution extending from the Strait of Magellan to southeast
Brazil
(
ca.
23°10´S
). This distribution is biogeographically anomalous for a shelf species.
Pallenopsis tumidula
Loman, 1923
was recorded from the RV
Calypso
1961
–1962 cruise station 172 off
Buenos Aires Province
,
Argentina
by
Stock (1966)
. Another specimen, from an unknown location due to mixing of materials, was collected at one of the following stations of the same expedition: 160, 161 (both in Uruguayan waters), 171 or 173 (off
Buenos Aires Province
,
Argentina
) (
Stock 1966
).
Stock (1992)
also reported this species for southeast and south
Brazil
(
23°15´S–
30°20´S
); therefore, the Uruguayan shelf is within its geographic range, although there are no reliable records. Station 2 of the
1901–1903
Swedish Antarctic Expedition (off
Buenos Aires Province
,
Argentina
,
37°30´S–
56°11´W
,
100 m
) is the
type
locality of
P. tumidula
(
Loman 1923
)
.
Hedgpeth (1943)
recorded, for the first time,
P. fluminensis
for Argentinean waters, off
Buenos Aires Province
(
37°42'S–
56°20'W
,
80.4 m
depth, station 26 of
Hassler
Expedition). Later,
Bremec
et al
. (1986)
briefly described and illustrated one specimen of
Pallenopsis
collected in the littoral zone of the
Buenos Aires Province
(
38°45´S
), identifying it as
P. fluminensis
. This species is otherwise known from the Brazilian coast (
Lucena
et al.
2017
).