Amathillopsis cf. charlottae Coleman, 1998

Lörz, Anne-Nina & Peart, Rachael A., 2023, Amathillopsidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from New Zealand, Including the Description of a New Species, Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 75 (4), pp. 459-470 : 466

Amathillopsis cf. charlottae Coleman, 1998

Figs 9–10

Type locality. Antarctic Peninsula, 66°33.10'S 68°41.90'W, depth 607 m, Polarstern cruise 42 ANT XIV/2 , station 177, Agassiz-Trawl .

Material examined. NIWA 84392 (figured) and NIWA 156317 (3 specimens), Canterbury Basin , east of South Island, New Zealand, 45.872°S 174.082°E, 1676 m , NZOI station S152, 26 October 1979 .

Diagnosis. (Based on Coleman, 1998). Head with short rostrum, anteroventral angle deeply excavate, ocular lobe with short acute process, with ridge parallel to ventral margin; Pereonite 1 somewhat longer than 2 and 3. Pereonite 2–4 indistinctly keeled dorsally; pereonite 5 with short carina and 5 or 6 with long pointed, weakly posteriorly curved processes. Similar but slightly longer processes on pleonites 1–2 and a shorter one on pleonite 3, about half length of that on pleonite 2. Epimeral plate 1 ventrally truncate, obtuse posteroventrally; plate 2 posteroventrally acute, plates 1 and 2 laterally ridged; posterolateral margin of epimeral plate 3 sinuous, posteroventral angle acute. Urosomite 1 as long as segment 2 and 3 combined; urosomite 2 shortest; urosomite 3 with shallow keel, slightly overreaching posterior margin, with shallow depression in lateral view.

Distribution. Southern Canterbury basin, New Zealand, Antarctic Peninsula.

Remarks. While analysing the Amathillopsidae held in the NIWA collection, we encountered specimens collected off southeast New Zealand that were remarkably similar to A. charlottae , originally described by Coleman (1998) from the Weddell Sea. While Coleman (1998) stated that A. charlottae had no eyes “or pigments lost in alcohol”, the New Zealand material shows distinct small, round eyes. The lateral surface of the New Zealand material seems smoother than Coleman’s Antarctic material. The morphological differences between the New Zealand and the Weddell Sea specimens were too minute to establish a new species, and our attempts to secure DNA sequences failed. We therefore refer to the New Zealand specimens as A. cf. charlottae .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Specimens were collected as part of the project “PoribacNewZ” by the Insitut fur Chemie und Biologie des Meeres, University Oldenburg, on the German flagship RV Sonne, using the GEOMAR ROV Kiel 6000 with participation and funding from GEOMAR, DSMZ, LMU, NIOZ, NIWA, and ETH-Zurich. NIWA voyage participation was funded through MBIE SSIF Enhancing Collections project.We are grateful to Sadie Mills (National Institute of Water & Atmosphere, Wellington) for joining the Sonne expedition, curating the samples and managing the registration database. We appreciate the extra sampling effort and great in-situ images taken by the ROV team led by Fritz Abegg from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Zentrum Kiel. Peter Schlupp, University Oldenburg, took the board photographs. Michelle Kelly (NIWA Auckland) kindly identified the sponge tube from a photograph. We are grateful to Kareen Schnabel and Jaret Bilewich for molecular assistance.

Anne-Nina LÖrz was financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project IceAGE Amphipoda (LO2543/1-1).

Figures

Figure 9. Amathillopsis cf. charlottae Coleman, 1998, male, 21.5 mm, NIWA 84392. Scale: Hb, U1–3 1 mm, T 0.2 mm.

Figure 10. Amathillopsis cf. charlottae Coleman, 1998, male, 21.5 mm, NIWA 84392. Scale 1 mm.