Ostracoda (Myodocopa) from Anchialine Caves and Ocean Blue Holes

Abstract

Eleven stygobitic myodocopid ostracodes (two new–Danielopolina palmeri and Spelaeoecia hox) in the Order Halocyprida are reported from anchialine waters in 11 inland blue holes in Bahamas. One stygobitic halocyprid ostracode is reported from two localities in Bermuda, and one from a cave in Mexico. A new subfamily, Spelaeoeciinae, is proposed to contain the genus Spelaeoecia, and the subfamily Deeveyinae is elevated to family status. Two new species of cladocopid ostracode (Pseudopolycope helix and Pontopolycope storthynx), are described from a cave in Mexico and an oceanic blue hole in the Bahamas. Nine species of myodocopid ostracodes (four new—Rutiderma flex, Eusarsiella syrinx, Eusarsiella fax, and Synasterope matrix) in the Suborder Myodocopina and one species in the Suborder Halocypridina are reported from ocean blue holes in the Bahamas. This is the first report of a halocyprid living in both an inland and ocean blue hole in the Bahamas. The sarsiellid genus Dantya Kornicker & Cohen 1978 is reported for the first time in the Bahamas, but the single juvenile specimen is left in open nomenclature as Dantya sp. A. The development of Deeveya bransoni and Eusarsiella syrinx is described in detail. With the exception of one species of Danielopolina from deep waters of the South Atlantic, all other species of Danielopolina, Spelaeoecia and Deeveya have been previously found only in inland, anchialine caves. The discovery of Deeveya inhabiting deeper, hydrologically-isolated waters in ocean blue holes, which are otherwise comparable to classical anchialine environments, has raised questions concerning the geographic limits to the anchialine habitat and its supposed reliance on terrestrial inputs.

Danielopolina revised: Phylogenetic relationships of the extant genera of the family Thaumatocyprididae (Ostracoda: Myodocopa)

“…varies between species when taxonomic drawings are compared, but Kornicker et al (2007) concluded that when the antennule is extended horizontally outside the carapace, the first and second segments form a linear arrangement, but when partly withdrawn these two segments sit at a right angle to one another. The majority of characters relate to the presence or absence of specific setation elements (Fig.…”

“…Together with a diverse array of other crustacean taxa including thermosbaenaceans, remipedes, and epacteriscid and speleophriid copepods (Wagner, 1994;Boxshall and Jaume, 2000;Fosshagen et al, 2001;Kornicker et al, 2007), Danielopolina is treated as a member of this core anchialine faunal suite (referred to as the Remipede Type by Humphreys and Danielopol (2006). The discovery of one representative of this core fauna in an anchialine habitat has been used as an indication that others will be present: for example, after the discovery of a species of the thermosbaenacean genus Halosbaena Stock, 1976 in northwestern Australia, Wagner (1994) predicted that Danielopolina would also be found there -a prediction confirmed six years later by Danielopol et al (2000).…”

“…The existence of such shared distribution patterns has been taken as evidence of a common biogeographical history. Kornicker et al (2007) commented that "great age is implied by the biogeographic distribution of the anchialine fauna of Western Australia including the remipede Lasionectes Yager and Schram, 1986, the thermosbaenacean Halosbaena, the ostracod Danielopolina and the misophrioid copepod Speleophria Boxshall and Iliffe, 1986 that are otherwise known primarily from caves on opposite sides of the Atlantic (Humphreys, 2004). "The current working hypothesis interprets these anchialine faunas as Tethyan -relicts of a fauna that initially colonised caves around the shallow margins of the Tethys Sea in Mesozoic times, and was subsequently dispersed by plate tectonic movements (Stock, 1986;Danielopol et al, 2000;Boxshall and Jaume, 2000;Kornicker et al, 2007).…”

The Corona lava tube, Lanzarote: geology, habitat diversity and biogeography

“…For example, the remipede genus Speleonectes currently includes 12 described species, 2 of which are from Lanzarote in addition to 7 species in the Bahamas and 1 each from Yucatan, Cuba and the Dominican Republic (Koenemann et al this issue). Similarly, the halocyprid ostracode genus Danielopolina consists of 12 species, with 2 from Lanzarote, D. wilkensi and D. phalanx, 4 from the Bahamas, and 1 each from Yucatan, Cuba, Jamaica, Galapagos, Western Australia, Christmas Island, and the deep sea of the South Atlantic (Kornicker et al 2007). Congeners of the thermosbaenacean Halosbaena fortunata from Lanzarote are known from Venezuela, Curaçao, and Western Australia (Poore and Humphreys 1992) and, most recently, Okinawa, Japan (Shimomura and Fujita 2009).…”

Anchialine fauna of the Corona lava tube (Lanzarote, Canary Islands): diversity, endemism and distribution

“…However, several studies have addressed the diversity of Crustacea in anchialine caves of the Caribbean (Jaume et al 1998;Iliffe 2003, 2007;Koenemann et al 2003;Iliffe and Botosaneanu 2006;Kornicker et al 2007), which is higher than the diversity of Crustacea in the Corona lava tube ( Table 3).…”