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First report of Loricifera from the North East Pacific Region, with the description of two new species

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Abstract

Loricifera is a phylum of free-living, marine animals of microscopic size, which are distributed worldwide across an extensive range of depths. The loriciferan fauna of the North East Pacific Region, however, has never been studied. In the present contribution, we describe Rugiloricus californiensis sp. nov. and Urnaloricus ibenae sp. nov. collected from deep-sea localities off the coast of California and Oregon, respectively. The female of R. californiensis sp. nov. is characterized by, among other features, a mouth cone relatively long with a conical distal section and three long oral stylets surrounding the mouth opening; an introvert with nine rows of scalids, including the first row of eight clavoscalids, four dorsal broad, and four ventral club-shaped and slender; fourth row with 15 leg-shaped spinoscalids alternating with 15 hook-shaped scalids with a terminal claw with a tricuspid end; eighth row with 30 extremely long, unsegmented spinoscalids with swollen bases and ventral serration; ninth row with 30 short beak-like scalids alternating with 30 small round plates each with a minute spine projecting posteriorly; neck with 15 single trichoscalids of identical structure but differing slightly in length; end-cone with unique, lateral oval structures. As for the second species described here, the Higgins larva of U. ibenae sp. nov. differs from its congener in having an introvert with eight two-segmented clavoscalids; a thorax with nine transverse folds, in which the first fold is a protoscalid-devoided collar; a pair of anterior lateroventral setae with single thick spike and a pair of anterior midventral setae ramified, with two curved branches; a pair of toes with spine-like ends that are longer than the body; posterolateral setae with ball-and-socket bases, and posterodorsal setae with oval bases; and, internally, by a mouth cone containing an internal armature and a pharyngeal bulb. We discuss our findings and compare R. californiensis sp. nov. and U. ibenae sp. nov. with their respective congeners. In addition, we provide information about further unidentified loriciferan specimens found at the study sites.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to E. E. Easton, C. Armstrong, S. Bode, S. Bourgoin, M. Bublitz, E. Carroll, R. Carvalho, R. Coker, V. Cruz, E. Darrow, S. Dorado, J. Fields, L. E. Gilles, A. S. McInnes, R. Rowland, F. Stephenson, L. Rose, and G. D. F. Wilson who all helped at sea or in the laboratory.

Funding

The samples were collected with support of the United States National Science Foundation under grant number 0727243 to D. T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural History Museum of Denmark, Section for GeoGenetics, Øster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Ricardo C. Neves & Martin V. Sørensen

  2. Natural History Museum of Denmark, Section for Biosystematics, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Reinhardt M. Kristensen

  3. Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, 78412, USA

    Melissa Rohal

  4. Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-4520, USA

    David Thistle

Authors
  1. Ricardo C. Neves
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  2. Reinhardt M. Kristensen
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  3. Melissa Rohal
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  4. David Thistle
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  5. Martin V. Sørensen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricardo C. Neves.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed by the authors.

Sampling and field studies

All necessary permits for sampling and observational field studies have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities and are mentioned in the acknowledgements, if applicable.

Additional information

Communicated by L. Menzel

This article is registered in ZooBank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7FA260CF-D4CC-48B7-98E9-0C82CA9BEBA2. The species are registered in ZooBank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8CC1359E-2B30-4B8C-8818-105717CC8753 (Rugiloricus californiensis sp. nov.) and urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:334B40AD-51B2-43B7-9194-559A3A178F57 (Urnaloricus ibenae sp. nov.).

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Neves, R.C., Kristensen, R.M., Rohal, M. et al. First report of Loricifera from the North East Pacific Region, with the description of two new species. Mar Biodiv 49, 1151–1168 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-018-0898-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-018-0898-1

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