Abstract
Deep-sea sampling off the central California coast has provided numerous material of a new amphipod species of the genus Valettiopsis Holmes, 1908. Valettiopsis concava sp. nov. is described from abyssal collections taken from baited traps and sponge stalk communities. Morphological characteristics which distinguish the new species from its congeners are found in the dorsal profile of the body, integument surface, and shape of coxa 2 and basis of pereopod 7. This contribution presents the second recorded species of the genus Valettiopsis described from the north Pacific, the first being the type species V. dentata Holmes, 1908. The new species is fully illustrated and compared with related species. The generic identity of Valettiopsis ruffoi Serejo & Wakabara, 2003 is discussed. A key to Valettiopsis species is provided.References
Barnard, J.L. (1961) Gammaridean Amphipoda from depths of 400 to 6000 meters. Galathea Report, 5, 23–128.
Barnard, J.L. & Ingram, C. (1990) Lysianassoid amphipoda (Crustacea) from deep-sea thermal vents. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 499, 1–80.
Barnard, J.L. & Karaman, G.S. (1991) Families and genera of marine gammaridean Amphipoda. (except marine gammaroids). Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 13, 1–866.
Barry, J.P. (2007) Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Benthic Ecology and Biology—The Biology of CO2 Sequestration. Available from: http://www.mbari.org/benthic/biologyco2.html (accessed March 2007)
Beaulieu, S.E. (2001) Life on glass houses: sponge stalk communities in the deep sea. Marine Biology, 138, 803–817.
Chevreux, E. (1909) Diagnoses d'amphipodes nouveaux provenant des campagnes de la Princesse-Alice dans l'Atlantique nord. Bulletin de l'Institut Océanographique, Monaco, 150, 1–7.
Dana, J.D. (1849) Synopsis of the genera of Gammaracea. American Journal of Sciences and Arts, series 2, 8, 135–140.
Hendrycks, E.A. & Conlan, K.E. (2003) New and unusual abyssal gammaridean Amphipoda from the north-east Pacific. Journal of Natural History, 37(19), 2303–2368.
Holmes, S.J. (1908) The Amphipoda collected by the United States Bureau of Fisheries steamer, "Albatross," off the west coast of North America, in 1903 and 1904, with descriptions of a new family and several new genera and species. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 35, 489–543.
Horton, T. (2004) Revision of the amphipod genus Valettiopsis Holmes, 1908 (Crustacea: Lysianassoidea), with the addition of three new species. Journal of Natural History, 38, 1735–1756.
Lincoln, R.J. & Thurston, M.H. (1983) Valettietta, a new genus of deep-sea amphipod (Gammaridea: Lysianassidae) with descriptions of two new species from the North Atlantic Ocean. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Zoology), 44, 85–101.
Lowry, J.K. & Stoddart, H.E. (1992) A revision of the genus Ichnopus (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Uristidae). Records of the Australian Museum, 44(2), 185–245.
Lowry, J.K. & Stoddart, H.E. (1993) Crustacea Amphipoda: Lysianassoids from Philippine and Indonesian waters. In: A. Crosnier (ed.), Résultats des Campagnes MUSORSTOM, Volume 10, Mémoires du Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, 156, 55–109.
Lowry, J.K. & Stoddart, H.E. (1997) Amphipoda Crustacea IV. Families Aristiidae, Cyphocarididae, Endevouridae, Lysianassidae, Scopelocheiridae, Uristidae. Memoirs of the Hourglass Cruises, 10(1), 1–148.
Serejo, C.S. & Wakabara, Y. (2003) The genus Valettiopsis (Gammaridea, Lysianassidae) from the southwestern Atlantic, collected by the R/V Marion Dufresne. Zoosystema, 25(2), 187–196.
Smith, K.L., Jr & Druffel, E.R.M. (1998) Long time-series monitoring of an abyssal site in the NE Pacific: an introduction. Deep-Sea Research II, 45, 573–586.
Thurston, M.H. (1989) A new species of Valettia (Crustacea, Amphipoda) and the relationship of the Valettidae to the Lysianassoidea. Journal of Natural History, 23, 1093–1107.
Watling, L. (1989) A classification system for crustacean setae based on the homology concept. In: B. E. Felgenhauer, Watling, L. & Thistle, A.B. (Eds). Functional Morphology of Feeding and Grooming in Crustacea. Crustacean Issues, 6, 15–27. Balkema, Rotterdam.