Peltidiphonte gen. n., a New Taxon of Laophontidae (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from Coral Substrates of the Indo-West Pacific Ocean

A new genus of the harpacticoid family Laophontidae is described and named Peltidiphonte gen. n. Eight new species are assigned to this genus; they were collected from different locations in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, including the Comoros, the Kenyan coast, the Red Sea, the Andaman Islands, the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the northeastern coast of Australia. Most of the specimens were collected from dead coral substrates, suggesting a close affinity between the members of the new genus and this substrate. Peltidiphonte gen. n. can easily be discriminated from other genera of the family by the extremely depressed body and by the shape of the antennule, bearing two (or three) processes on the first segment and a hook-like process along the outer margin of the second segment. An identification key for the new genus is provided.     

Vallodiscus gen. nov., a new fossil resting spore morpho-genus related to the marine diatom genus Chaetoceros (Bacillariophyceae)

A new fossil marine diatom resting spore morphogenus, Vallodiscus Suto gen. nov., is described using samples from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 338 in the Norwegian Sea, Sites 436 and 438 in the north‐west Pacific Ocean and the onland Newport Beach Section, California. Vallodiscus is characterized by a single ring of veins along the epivalve margin and a hypovalve covered with circular depressions of several sizes with gentle elevation. The morpho‐genus bears three new species and one new combination: Vallodiscus simplexus Suto sp. nov., Vallodiscus complexus Suto sp. nov., Vallodiscus lanceolatus Suto sp. nov. and Vallodiscus chinchae (Mereschkowsky) Suto comb. nov.     

Cladosiphon umezakii sp. nov. (Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae) from Japan

The new species Cladosiphon umezakii Ajisaka (Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae) is described from Japan based on morphology and DNA sequences. The species resembles Cladosiphon okamuranus Tokida in its gross morphology; somewhat slimy, cylindrical, multiaxial and sympodial erect thallus, arising from a small disc‐shaped holdfast, and branching once to twice. However, C. umezakii has considerably longer assimilatory filaments (up to 840 μm long, composed of up to 90 cells) than any known taxa of the genus. The species is a winter to spring annual, growing on lower intertidal to subtidal rocks of more or less exposed sites on the north‐eastern coast of Kyushu and on both the Pacific and the Sea of Japan coasts of Honshu. Specimens from the Sea of Japan coast had both unilocular and plurilocular zoidangia, whereas those from Kyushu and from the Pacific had only unilocular zoidangia. Unilocular zoidangia were formed on the basal part of assimilatory filaments, and plurilocular ones were transformed from the distal part of assimilatory filaments. DNA sequences of the Rubisco‐spacer (rbc‐spacer) region and the nuclear rDNA ITS region (ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2) supported the distinctness of the species.     

A new species of pikeblenny (Blenniiformes: Chaenopsidae: Chaenopsis) from the tropical eastern Pacific and a key to all species

The genus Chaenopsis presently includes 10 species, four in the eastern Pacific and six in the western Atlantic. Five individuals of an undescribed species of this genus were obtained at Gorgona Island in the eastern Pacific of Colombia, in depths between 3 and 5 m. This new species differs from all the Eastern Pacific species in an array of traits including meristic, coloration and morphometric characters. Chaenopsis celeste new species differs from its only sympatric species, C. deltarrhis, in having fewer pectoral rays, fewer dorsal spines and more dorsal-fin soft rays and anal-fin elements. This new species is found over shallow sandy, rubble and small rocks bottoms from Costa Rica to Colombia.     

THE RECLASSIFICATION OF LESSONIA LAMINARIOIDES (LAMINARIALES,PHAEOPHYCEAE): PSEUDOLESSONIA GEN. NOV.1

A new genus, Pseudolessonia, is proposed for the kelp Lessonia laminarioides Postels et Ruprecht (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae), which occurs on the northwest side of the Sea of Okhotsk, in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Pseudolessonia is monotypic and differs from Lessonia in its short primary stipes and its corrugated, unilaterally arranged blades with entire margins. This species is transferred on the basis of morphology and plastid gene sequence comparisons. We determined psaA and rbcL gene sequences from 17 taxa of Pseudolessonia, Lessonia, and putative relatives. Analyses of individual and combined data sets resulted in congruent trees showing a clear separation of Pseudolessonia laminarioides from Lessonia, but suggesting its sister relationships with the clade of Nereocystis, Macrocystis, Pelagophycus, and Postelsia in the North Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, Lessonia species from the South Pacific Ocean formed a strongly supported clade. The results indicate that the basal splitting of the blade, which has been considered a diagnostic character for the family Lessoniaceae, is a result of convergent evolution.     

Taxonomic review of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cottiusculus</Emphasis> (Cottoidei: Cottidae) with description of a new species from the Sea of Japan

A taxonomic review of the cottid genus Cottiusculus Jordan and Starks 1904 established three species, C. nihonkaiensis sp. nov., C. schmidti, and C. gonez. Cottiusculus nihonkaiensis sp. nov., which had been previously confused with C. schmidti, is described on the basis of 32 specimens (44.8–77.9 mm, SL) collected from the Sea of Japan. The new species is very similar to C. schmidti in having a curved barbless uppermost preopercular spine and the lateral line extending past the caudal fin base, but is distinguishable as follows: nasal spines simple or sometimes weakly bicuspid (vs. deeply bicuspid in C. schmidti); first dorsal fin not elongated in either males or females (vs. elongated in males); ventral lateral and lateral line cirri present (vs. absent). The former is known from the Sea of Japan coasts of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula, and Volcano Bay, Hokkaido, and the latter from the Pacific coast of Tohoku District, Japan. Cottiusculus gonez, known from the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and Pacific coast of Hokkaido, is characterized by having a simple nasal spine, the uppermost preopercular spine almost straight with two small cusps dorsally, posterior cusp barbed, and the lateral line almost reaching to the caudal fin base. A lectotype of C. gonez is designated here. Sequence differences in the cytochrome b gene among the above three species of Cottiusculus are also presented.     

Comparison of morphological and genetic analyses reveals cryptic divergence and morphological plasticity in Stylophora (Cnidaria, Scleractinia)

A combined morphological and genetic study of the coral genus Stylophora investigated species boundaries in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen. Two mitochondrial regions, including the hypervariable IGS9 spacer and the control region, and a fragment of rDNA were used for phylogenetic analysis. Results were compared by multivariate analysis on the basis of branch morphology and corallite morphometry. Two species were clearly discriminated by both approaches. The first species was characterised by small corallites and a low morphological variability and was ascribed to a new geographical record of Stylophora madagascarensis on the basis of its phylogenetic distinction and its morphological similarity to the type material. The second species was characterised by larger corallite size and greater morphological variability and was ascribed to Stylophora pistillata. The analysis was extended to the intrageneric level for other S. pistillata populations from the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Strong internal divergence was evident in the genus Stylophora. S. pistillata populations were split into two highly divergent Red Sea/Gulf of Aden and western Pacific lineages with significant morphological overlap, which suggests they represent two distinct cryptic species. The combined use of morphological and molecular approaches, so far proved to be a powerful tool for the re-delineation of species boundaries in corals, provided novel evidence of cryptic divergence in this group of marine metazoans.     

Rosgorgia inexspectata, new genus and species of Subergorgiidae (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) from off the Antarctic Peninsula

The family Subergorgiidae comprises two genera, Subergorgia with three species and Annella with two species. All the previously known species are distributed in tropical and subtropical waters from the northern Red Sea to the central Pacific. The presence of a subergorgiid in Antarctic waters could support the hypothesis that at least part of the Antarctic fauna has its origin in the Cretaceous period, when Antarctica was part of the Gondwana continent. The new genus Rosgorgia with the new species inexspectata is placed in the family Subergorgiidae by the presence of smooth, fusiform and often anastomosing needles in the axis, wart spindles in the coenenchyme, and coelenteric cavities of polyps only present in the coenenchyme. The genus Rosgorgia differs from Subergorgia and Annella by the presence of tuberculate rods in the axis. It is further distinguished from Annella by the absence of double-disk sclerites in the coenenchyme, and not anastomosing branches. Accepted: 25 June 2000     

A new deep-sea hydroid (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) from the Bering Sea Basin reveals high genetic relevance to Arctic and adjacent shallow-water species

The marine benthic fauna in Arctic shallow-water is reported to be a relatively young assemblage by species of either Pacific or Atlantic affinity. Whether current deep-sea Pacific species are included in the affinity or not is unknown. Combining morphological comparisons and genetic analyses, a new deep-sea hydroid to science, Sertularia xuelongi sp. nov. (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Sertulariidae), is described from the northern margin of the Bering Sea Basin at depths of 800–1570 m collected in 2010. It is characterized by slender and zigzag-shaped hydrocauli, alternately arranged hydrothecae and the absence of distal-lateral horns in fully matured female gonothecae. Its distribution, currently known only from Bering Sea Basin, suggests that it could not be an Arctic species with Pacific affinity. However, phylogenetic analyses based on the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene show that it is clustered into a distinctive clade with four closely related species recorded from shallow-water of Northwest France, Iceland, Chukchi Sea and/or Bering Sea. In addition, its sequence similarity is highly relevant to these four species: Sertularia argentea (98.6 %), S. cupressina (98.8 %), S. plumosa (98.8 %) and S. robusta (99.4 %). All these provide a new insight into the relevance of North Pacific deep-sea species to the benthic fauna in Arctic and adjacent shallow-water. The taxonomic restriction of the genus Sertularia and the re-validation of the genus Polyserias are discussed. Future researches on more deep-sea species from Pacific and/or Atlantic are required to understand the evolution and speciation pattern involved in polar relevance.     

Genetic validation of the unexpected presence of a tropical tuna,bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), in the Mediterranean

Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus, Lowe, 1839) is one of the eight recognized species of the genus Thunnus. It is considered a tropical species distributed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. To date, no validated presence of this species has been reported inside the Mediterranean Sea. This study, however, confirms, for the first time, the presence of three young individuals of this species within the Mediterranean Sea.     

The genera Melyvonnea gen. nov. and Mesophyllum s.s. (Melobesioideae,Corallinales, Rhodophyta) particularly from the central Atlantic Ocean

We propose the new genus Melyvonnea to accommodate species previously included in Mesophyllum having: a) perithallial protuberances that may branch and dominate over the encrusting base, b) monoecious gametophytes with gametangial conceptacles occasionally developed in superimposition, c) spheroid carposporangial chambers (lacking a central pedestal), and d) filaments lining canals of multiporate roofs composed of 3 to 5 cells with distinctively elongate basal cells. The new genus shares with Mesophyllum the development of a predominantly coaxial hypothallium. Melyvonnea presently accommodates three species in the Central Atlantic, viz. the generitype Melyvonnea canariensis (Foslie) comb. nov. from the Canary Islands, Melyvonnea erubescens (Foslie) comb. nov. ( = Mesophyllum incertum; type locality: Bermuda) from the western Atlantic, Melyvonnea aemulans (Foslie & Howe) comb. nov. from Puerto Rico, and one Indo‐Pacific species, Melyvonnea madagascariensis (Foslie) comb. nov. We also emend Mesophyllum Lemoine to encompass Northern Hemisphere species that lack the above apomorphies of Melyvonnea and in addition develop a central pedestal in carposporangial conceptacles (via dissolution of the surrounding cells) with gonimoblasts bending down to fill the empty space. Mesophyllum sensu stricto currently includes six species in the northeast Pacific (M. aleuticum, M. conchatum, M. crassiusculum, M. lamellatum, M. megagastri, M. vancouveriense), two species in the western Atlantic (M. mesomorphum and M. syntrophicum), and three species in the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea (M. expansum, M. lichenoides, M. philippii). Gametophytic species of each genus show a mainly disjunct distribution being restricted to the tropics–subtropics (Melyvonnea) and the temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere (Mesophyllum s.s.). This classification is supported by a consensus of studies of all well‐known species of Mesophyllum sensu Adey (1970), and is based on a phylogenetic analysis of morphological and anatomical characters in addition to molecular evidence.     

A STUDY OF CALLITHAMNION LEJOLISEA FARL.1

The study of various aspects of the structure and development of Callithamnion lejolisea Farl. shows that this species is incorrectly referred to that genus. It is proposed that C. lejolisea should be, made the type species of a new genus, Ptilothamnionopsis. In addition, various other Pacific algae possibly referable to this genus are briefly considered.