Contribution to the taxonomic knowledge of Ampharetidae (Annelida) from Antarctica with the description of Amage giacomobovei sp. nov.

Abstract

Thanks to newly collected material from the Terra Nova Bay area (Ross Sea, Antarctica), we discuss the taxonomy of the ampharetid genera Amage Malmgren, 1866 and Amythas Benham, 1921. A new species of Amage, A. giacomobovei sp. nov., is described based on morpho-anatomical data. This is the second new species described from an area which appears to be rich in ampharetids, a coastal embayment at ~500 m depth near the Italian “Mario Zucchelli” research station. The new species is characterized by having 16 abdominal uncinigers and four pairs of branchiae that readily distinguish it from its congeners. Tubes of A. giacomobovei sp. nov. are also characteristic in showing a large amount of embedded sponge spicules, suggesting a possible close association to spicule mats. Based on the amended diagnoses of the two genera, Amage septemdecima Schüller & Jirkov, 2013 is transferred to the genus Amythas. Finally, to simplify the task of ampharetid genera recognition for untrained people, we provide a dichotomic key for ampharetid genera found in Antarctica and a checklist of species occurring in Terra Nova Bay.

New species of Travisia Johnston, 1840 (Annelida, Travisiidae Hartmann-Schröder, 1971) from south-eastern Australia

“…Patterns due to selective take-up of stain by epidermal tissue have been used to seek additional features for discriminating Travisia species, including shirlastain (Vodopyanov et al, 2014;Wiklund et al, 2019) and methyl green (Maciolek and Blake, 2006;Kobayashi and Kojima, 2021). Schiaparelli and Jirkov (2021) found methylene blue (already in use in our laboratory) to be more effective than methyl green, and we report methylene blue staining pattern here.…”

Visual Imaging of Benthic Carbonate-Mixed Factories in the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area, Antarctica

“…Checklists of spe- Since 1986, the area has been the focus of a variety of biological studies on benthic, nektic and pelagic aspects of resident communities (Table 1). Systemic biological research in TNB resulted in the discovery of a variety of taxa new to science, including ampharetids, amphipods, Porifera and coralline algae (e.g., [37,38,[45][46][47][48][49]). Checklists of species from TNB are systematically published and updated by the Italian national Antarctic Museum (MNA, Section of Genoa) [49][50][51][52][53].…”

“…One dive explored the Adelie Cove from 30 m down to 120 m, while the second surveyed the shallower portion of an elongated depression in the Terra Nova Bay (TNB) in a depth range of 230-260 m, which is informally referred to as "TNB Canyon" [36]. From the deeper parts of this depression, which seems to act as a natural sink for the abundant organic matter produced during the summer phytoplanktonic bloom, new species of polychaetes were also recently described [37,38].…”