Marine tardigrades from Lutzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica with the description of a new species

Marine tardigrades in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions are poorly understood. During the 59th Japan Antarctic Research Expedition, a sediment sample was collected from Ltzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica. The sediment sample yielded three species of marine tardigrades belonging to the family Styr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Fujimoto, S, Suzuki, AC, Ito, M, Tamura, T, Tsujimoto, M
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer-Verlag 2020
Subjects:
Biological Sciences
Evolutionary biology
Phylogeny and comparative analysis
Antarctic
The Antarctic
East Antarctica
Moreno
Renaud
Kristensen
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02671-w
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/143775
Description
Summary:Marine tardigrades in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions are poorly understood. During the 59th Japan Antarctic Research Expedition, a sediment sample was collected from Ltzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica. The sediment sample yielded three species of marine tardigrades belonging to the family Styraconyxidae Kristensen & Renaud-Mornant, 1983: Angursa antarctica Villora-Moreno, 1998, Styraconyx cf. qivitoq Kristensen & Higgins, 1984, and S. takeshii sp. nov. The new species resembles S. nanoqsunguak Kristensen & Higgins, 1984 by the overall morphology, but the new species has thick seminal receptacle ducts that do not terminate in typical, swelled vesicles, in contrast to S. nanoqsunguak s narrow seminal receptacle ducts that terminate in small vesicles. The presence of the undivided mouth papilla and the larger body further differentiates the new species from S. nanoqsunguak . We also report a young adult female with a gonopore, but lacking seminal receptacles in the new species. As well as morphological information, we provided the sequences of the new species nuclear 28S rRNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I fragments. Using the former molecular data, phylogenetic analyses of Styraconyxidae were conducted and polyphyly of Styraconyx was suggested. The biogeography of marine tardigrades in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions are also discussed.

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