Morphological Description and Molecular Characterization of Gnathia Jimmybuffetti Sp. Nov. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae): the First New Gnathiid in 100 Years from the Floridian Ecoregion.

Abstract

Gnathia jimmybuffetti sp. nov. is described from the Florida Keys. Morphological characterization of the male, female, and juvenile, as well as the life cycle development of the female is examined. The male of this new species is distinguished from other species from the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic marine province by the slightly produced frontal margin; absent mediofrontal process; single, strong, conical superior frontolateral process, with 2 pairs of long simple setae; and rounded inferior frontolateral process, the weak distally curved mandible with weakly convex dentate blade. In addition, molecular characterization for three life stages, (males, females, and praniza), is provided, as well as evidence for linking host DNA to juvenile stages. This paper contributes to our understanding of the gnathiid biodiversity of the Tropical Atlantic realm, specifically the Floridian ecoregion. Furthermore, this paper validates the methods of extracting and identifying host DNA from the gnathiid blood meal.

Two new species and new host and distribution records of Gnathia Leach, 1814 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae) from Western Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

“…The dried specimen was mounted on brass SEM stubs using double-sided conductive tape, followed by sputter-coating with platinum, and then photographed using a Hitachi SU3900 SEM . New descriptions were prepared in DEscriptive Language for TAxonomy ( DELTA ; Dallwitz 2018 ) using a modified Gnathia character set ( Erasmus et al 2023 ). Descriptive terminology follows Smit and Davies (2004) for setal classification and Cohen and Poore (1994) for the male morphology.…”