Monsters in the dark: systematics and biogeography of the stygobitic genus Godzillius (Crustacea: Remipedia) from the Lucayan Archipelago

  • Remipedia is a stygobitic group commonly associated with coastal anchialine caves. This class consists of 12 genera, ten of which are found within the Lucayan Archipelago. Herein, we describe a new species within the genus Godzillius from Conch Sound Blue Hole, North Andros Island, Bahamas. Godzillius louriei sp. nov. is the third known remipede observed from a subseafloor marine cave, and the first from the Godzilliidae. Remipedes dwell within notoriously difficult to access cave habitats and thus integrative and comprehensive systematic studies at family or genus level are often absent in the literature. In this study, all species of Godzillius are compared using morphological and molecular approaches. Specifically, the feeding appendages of G. louriei sp. nov., G. fuchsi Gonzalez, Singpiel & Schlagner, 2013 and G. robustus Schram, Yager & Emerson, 1986 were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Species of Godzillius are identified based on the spines of maxilla 1 segment 4 and by the denticles on the lacinia mobilis of the left mandible. A molecular phylogeny using the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and nuclear histone 3 genes recovered G. louriei sp. nov. within the Godzillius clade and 16S genetic distances revealed a 13–15% difference between species of Godzillius.
Metadaten
Author:Lauren Ballou, Thomas M. Iliffe, Brian Kakuk, Brett C. Gonzalez, Karen J. Osborn, Katrine Worsaae, Kenneth Meland, Kenneth Broad, Heather Bracken-Grissom, Jørgen OlesenORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-608625
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2021.751.1383
ISSN:2118-9773
Parent Title (German):European journal of taxonomy
Series (Serial Number):European journal of taxonomy : EJT (751:115-139)
Publisher:Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Place of publication:Paris
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2021/06/07
Date of first Publication:2021/06/07
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2021/06/16
Tag:anchialine; cave; new species; phylogeny
Volume:2021
Issue:751
Page Number:25
First Page:115
Last Page:139
HeBIS-PPN:481931198
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 59 Tiere (Zoologie) / 590 Tiere (Zoologie)
Sammlungen:Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte
:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-257882
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0