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| Pseudomma kryotroglodytum Wittmann & Chevaldonné, 2022 |
Abstract
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.
Keywords: Development, feeding, key to species, life cycle, marine caves, molecular systematics, polar biology, sensory organs
Order Mysida Boas, 1883
Family Mysidae Haworth, 1825
Subfamily Erythropinae Hansen, 1910
Tribe Pseudommini Wittmann, Ariani & Lagardère, 2014
Genus Pseudomma G.O. Sars, 1870
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| Pseudomma kryotroglodytum sp. nov. from ice cave of Bernard Island, Antarctica A female holotype, lateral B cephalothorax of female holotype, dorsal C physical aspect of the ice cave environmentA, B living specimen in laboratory. |
Pseudomma kryotroglodytum sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Covers females only. Species of the genus Pseudomma G.O. Sars, 1870, with cornea-like lateral portions separated by sulci from main part of eyeplate (Figs 2B, 4C, 23A), no visual elements. Disto-median fissure penetrates one third of eyeplate. Distal margin of eyeplates with series of minute teeth along sublateral sector (‘shoulders’, Fig. 23A, D). Basal segment of antennular trunk without medio-ventral carina. Antennal scale (Fig. 4B) with setose apical lobe contributing about 1/4 scale length. Mandibular palp (Fig. 4E) 3-segmented, very large, about as long as antennal scale. Three pairs of oostegites (Fig. 5I) contributing to wall of brood pouch. Pleopods (Fig. 6H–L) reduced to setose rods with residual differentiation of endopod (pseudobranchial lobes). Telson (Figs 3A, 6N) trapezoid, as long as ultimate pleonite. Its length twice maximum width at basis and four times width at apex. Lateral margins of telson without setae and spines, only minute scales present. Transversely truncate terminal margin with only two pairs of spines, both hispid due to minute scales (Fig. 3B) along more than proximal 2/3 spine length. Large latero-apical and same-sized submedio-apical spines flank median pair of closely set setae (Fig. 3C) with twice spine length. Margin with short, well-rounded indentation between each spine, median indentation largest. Disto-lateral edge without tooth, with spine only.
Etymology: The species name is an adjective with Latinised neutral ending formed by adjectivation of the amalgamated Ancient Greek adjective κρύος (cold) with the noun τρωγλοδύτης (cave dweller). The adjectivation has precedence in the name of the butterfly Macroglossum troglodytus Boisduval, l875, listed by Kemal et al. (2019) as M. troglodytum.
Karl J. Wittmann and Pierre Chevaldonné. 2022. 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. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1079.76412
