?Mastigoteuthis B Clarke, 1980, is a junior synonym of Asperoteuthis acanthoderma (Lu, 1977) (Cephalopoda, Oegopsida, Chiroteuthidae), a rare cosmopolitan deep-sea squid

• Published in: Marine Biodiversity
• Main Author: Cherel, Yves
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Biogeography; Cephalopods; Distribution; Predators; Squid; Taxonomy; Trophic relationships; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Indian; Pacific; Wandering Albatross
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03134164; https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01155-8

International audience The present work resolved the long-standing taxonomic problem associated with the enigmatic ?Mastigoteuthis B Clarke, 1980, by demonstrating that these lower beaks correspond to those of the large deep-sea chiroteuthid Asperoteuthis acanthoderma (Lu, 1977). A review of the existing literature listed 22 specimens of A. acanthoderma, but synonymizing ?Mastigoteuthis B with A. acanthoderma increased 14 times the species record worldwide. Pooling the data from both specimens and beaks (a total of 329 individuals) indicates that the species has a circumglobal distribution, since it occurs in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The synonymization also highlights trophic relationships of the species as a prey of top marine predators. Lower beaks of A. acanthoderma were mostly found in stomachs of sperm whales, but a few beaks were also recorded from stomach contents of sharks, swordfish and the wandering albatross.