Filling biodiversity gaps: benthic hydroids from the Bellingshausen Sea (Antarctica) |
| |
Authors: | álvaro Luis Pe?a Cantero |
| |
Institution: | (1) Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biolog?a Evolutiva (ICBiBE), Universidad de Valencia, Apdo. Correos 22085, 46071 Valencia, Spain |
| |
Abstract: | The Bellingshausen Sea constitutes the third largest sea in the Southern Ocean, though it is widely recognized as one of the
less-studied Antarctic areas. To reduce this lack of knowledge, a survey to study the biodiversity of its marine benthic communities
was carried out during the Bentart 2003 and Bentart 2006 Spanish Antarctic expeditions. The study of the hydroid collection has provided 27 species, belonging to ten families and
15 genera. Twenty-one out of the 27 species constitute new records for the Bellingshausen Sea, raising the total number of
known species to 37, as also do nine out of the 15 genera. Candelabrum penola, Lafoea annulata, and Staurotheca juncea are recorded for the second time. Most species belong to Leptothecata. Sertulariidae with 13 species (48%) is by far the
most speciose family, and Symplectoscyphus with seven species (26%), including S. bellingshauseni sp. nov. and S. hesperides sp. nov., the most diverse genus. Considering the whole benthic hydroid fauna of the Bellingshausen Sea, 18 species (69%)
are endemic to Antarctic waters, either with a circum-Antarctic (12 species, 46%) or West Antarctic (6 species, 23%) distribution,
23 (88%) are restricted to Antarctic or Antarctic/sub-Antarctic waters, and only three species have a wider distribution.
Bellingshausen Sea hydroid fauna is composed of a relatively high diversity of typical representatives of the Antarctic benthic
hydroid fauna, though with a surprisingly low representation of some of the most diverse and widespread Antarctic genera (Oswaldella and Schizotricha), what could be related to the fact that its shelf-inhabiting hydroid fauna remains practically unknown. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|