Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890

Paz-Ríos, Carlos E., Guerra-García, José M. & Ardisson, Pedro-Luis, 2014, REVIEW ARTICLE Caprellids (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from the Gulf of Mexico, with observations on Deutella mayeri, redescription of Metaprotella hummelincki, a taxonomic key and zoogeographical comments, Journal of Natural History 48 (41 - 42), pp. 2517-2578 : 2550-2553

Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890

( Figure 17 )

Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890: 41 , pl. 1, figs 28–30; pl. 3, figs 45–47; pl. 5, figs 48, 49; pl. 6, fig. 10; 1903: 67, pl. 2, figs 36, 37; pl. 7, fig. 52. Steinberg and Dougherty, 1957: 283–284, figs 16, 19, 24, 30. McCain, 1968: 82–86, figs 41, 42. Serejo, 1998: 381, fig. 7j, l. Guerra-García and Thiel, 2001: 880, fig. 8. Ortiz et al., 2002, fig. 37. Foster, Thomas, et al., 2004: 162, 165, fig. 5. Diaz et al., 2005: 3, 6–7, fig. 13. Guerra-García, Krapp-Schickel, et al., 2006: 175–178, figs 17–19. Winfield, Escobar-Briones, et al., 2007: 30, 47, fig. 16. Bhave and Deshmukh, 2009: 111– 112, figs 1, 2. Guerra-García et al., 2010: 304–305, fig. 8.

Caprella nigra Reid, 1951: 283–284 , 289, fig. 58.

Material examined

Station 1, one male, eight females (six ovigerous), CYMX-15- CY . Station 3, one male, one ovigerous female, CYMX-16- CY . Station 10, one ovigerous female, 28 November 2010, CYMX-21- CY . Station 13, 54 males, 63 females (26 ovigerous), 12 juveniles (one male and one female from this station used for figures), CYMX-17- CY . Station 14, 16 males, 22 females (16 ovigerous), CYMX-18- CY . Station 16, 11 males, 11 females (six ovigerous), CYMX-19- CY . Station 18, 89 males, 101 females (47 ovigerous), five juveniles, CYMX-24- CY .

Type locality

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil .

Distribution

Western Atlantic; Chile; southern Spain; tropical west Africa; south Africa; Tanzania; Suez Canal; India; Australia; China; Hawaii ( Bhave and Deshmukh 2009; Guerra-García et al. 2010; Ros and Guerra-Garcia 2012).

Records in the Gulf of Mexico

MEX: Tamaulipas continental shelf ( Escobar-Briones and Winfield 2003); Laguna Madre ( Barba and Sánchez 2005); Mexican ridges at southwest ( Winfield et al. 2006); Celestun; Progreso; Dzilam Bravo; El Cuyo; Yalahau Lagoon (present study). USA: Port Aransas ( Steinberg and Dougherty 1957); Port Isabel; Grand Isle; Panama City; St Petersburg; Sarasota Bay ( McCain 1968); Louisiana Offshore ( Lewbel et al. 1987); Perdido Key ( Rakocinski et al. 1996); Choctawhatchee Bay ( Martin and Bortone 1997); Biloxi Bay ( Pederson and Peterson 2002); Dog Keys Pass; Horn Island Pass (Foster, Thomas, et al. 2004).

Habitat

Paracaprella pusilla has been collected from mangrove roots, seagrasses, hydroids and ascidians ( McCain 1968), sandy beaches ( Rakocinski et al. 1996), artificial reefs ( Lewbel et al. 1987; Martin and Bortone 1997), sponges ( Serejo 1998), gravel bottoms, ropes, mussels, oysters, sabellariid worm rock ( Diaz et al. 2005), and muddy bottoms ( Winfield et al. 2006). The depth range reported is shallow water extending to 498 m ( Winfield et al. 2006; Winfield and Escobar-Briones 2008; LeCroy et al. 2009).

Remarks

Paracaprella pusilla is similar to Paracaprella tenuis ( Mayer 1903) ; however, males of P. pusilla can be distinguished from those of P. tenuis by the large sharp-pointed projection on the anteroventral margin of pereonite 2, the proximal knob on the basis of gnathopod 2 and the presence of setae on the dactylus of gnathopod 2 ( McCain 1968).

Recently, Ros and Guerra-Garcia (2012) analysed the worldwide distribution of P. pusilla , recording, for the first time, this species in European coastal waters (southern Spain).

Figures

Figure 17. Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890. Yucatan, Mexico; CYMX-17-CY. Scale bar: 1 mm.