Two new natatory asellote isopods (Crustacea) from the San Juan Archipelago, Baeonectes improvisus n. gen., n. sp. and Acanthamunnopsis milleri n. sp., with a revised description of A. hystrix Schultz

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Wilson, George D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1982
• Subjects: Arctic; San Juan
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z82-422; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z82-422

Two new species of asellote isopods from the waters surroundng the San Juan Archipelago are described and diagnosed. Baeonectes improvisus n. gen., n. sp. and Acanthamunnopsis milleri n. sp. belong to the highly evolved, natatory families Eurycopidae and Munnopsidae, respectively. Baeonectes, a circum-arctic and boreal shallow-water genus, also includes B. muticus (Sars), the type-species. The taxonomic concept of Acanthamunnopsis has difficulties that must be resolved before A. milleri can be described. To this end, the family Acanthamunnopsidae Schultz is invalidated and merged with the Munnopsidae; the genus Acanthamunnopsis Schultz is revised; and A. hystrix, the type-species, is redescribed with corrections and additions to the original description. The unusual presence of the bathypelagic genus Acanthamunnopsis in the surface waters of the San Juan Archipelago is discussed. Acanthamunnopsis milleri is tentatively postulated to be a deep resident of the open ocean that was carried landward into the Strait of Juan de Fuca by upwelled intrusions of cold, saline water.