Chaetarcturus cervicornis sp. n., a New Ross Sea Isopod of the Genus Chaetarcturus Brandt, 1990 (Crustacea, Malacostraca)

• Published in: Diversity
• Main Authors: Nicholas Francesco Noli, Angelika Brandt, Davide Di Franco, Stefano Schiaparelli
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: Ross Sea; Mawson Bank; morphology; distribution; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Hodgson; Antarc*; Italian National Antarctic Research Program; National Antarctic Research Program
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/d14050386; https://doaj.org/article/cb6d6cd4caab496a9af11d6607fc7a5b

In the framework of the PNRA (Italian National Antarctic Research Program) project CARBONANT focusing on biogenic carbonates and held in January–February 2002, several Ross Sea banks were sampled to obtain samples of biogenic carbonates. In the Mawson Bank, species belonging to the isopod genus Chaetarcturus Brandt, 1990 were recorded, including a specimen that did not match any described species. In this paper we describe Chaetarcturus cervicornis sp. n., which is characterized by supraocular spines and two pairs of tubercle-like protrusions on the cephalothorax. The new species is very similar to C. bovinus (Brandt & Wägele, 1988) and C. adareanus (Hodgson, 1902), but has a clearly different spine pattern. The study of the species of the genus Chaetarcturus in the Ross Sea contributes to increase our knowledge on the diversity of the Antarcturidae in the Southern Ocean. Ross Sea banks seem to hold an interesting and not-well-known fauna, deserving attention in future research.