Cyclaspis

Cházaro-Olvera, Sergio, Winfield, Ignacio, Ortiz, Manuel & Álvarez, Fernando, 2002, Peracarid crustaceans from three inlets in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico: new records and range extensions, Zootaxa 123, pp. 1-16 : 9

Cyclaspis sp.

Material Examined: CNCR­20400; number of specimens: 2; CV station; collection date: 01/08/98.

Distribution: The genus Cyclaspis has been reported from southern Africa ( Day, 1978), the Gulf of Mexico ( Santos & Simon, 1980; Omholt & Heard, 1982; Modlin & Dardeau, 1987; Donath­Hernandez, 1988a); the Caribbean Sea ( Donath­Hernandez, 1988a; Ortiz & Lalana, 1989; Markham et al., 1990), French Guiana, from southern Brazil to Argentina ( Roccatagliata, 1986, 1989); the Gulf of California ( Donath­Hernandez, 1988?b); Indonesia ( Soemodinoto et al. 1995); northern Australia ( Bacescu, 1990) and the east coast of India ( Radhadevi & Kurian, 1990).

Range extension: For the Gulf of Mexico, some species of the genus Cyclaspis have been reported from South Florida estuaries ( Santos & Simon, 1980), the northeastern shelf ( Omholt & Heard, 1982), Perdido Key, Florida ( Rakocinski, et al., 1993; 1996) and the Mobile Bay estuarine system, Alabama ( Modlin & Dardeau, 1987). The record of this genus at CV inlet, Veracruz State, extends its geographic distribution from Quintana Roo and the Mexican Caribbean ( Markham et al., 1990) into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.

Remarks: The genus Cyclaspis is widely distributed. It is a macrozoobenthic, sometimes planktonic (especially males), sand bottom and seagrass inhabitant, as well as a deep­water epibenthic ­ suprabenthic component, and is also found in the continental shelf ­ slope assemblage ( Cartes & Sorbe, 1997). In addition, some species of Cyclaspis encountered within estuaries are euryhaline marine r­strategists and use the ecosystem only when the environmental conditions are favorable ( Modlin & Dardeau, 1987). This genus not identifiable to species because it appear to be new species.

The salinity and temperature ranges measured at the site were 19 to 27 %o and 28 to 29 °C respectively.