A Representative of the Mainly Abyssal Family Pardaliscidae (Crustacea
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Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 52 (1): 3-12 1982 Amsterdam Expeditions to the West Indian Islands, Report 16. A representative of the mainly abyssal family Pardaliscidae (Crustacea, Amphipoda) in cave waters of the Caicos Islands by Jan H. Stock & Jan J. Vermeulen Institute of Taxonomic Zoology, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 20125, 1000 HC Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract the km from sea (the nearest sea coast is some II/2 A new genus and species of Amphipoda is described from the cave entrance). The accessible part of the water cave waters on Providenciales (Caicos Islands) as Spelaeoni- hole is in semidarkness. cippeprovo. Another species belonging to the same new genus this have been ob- The Amphipoda from cave is known from a cave on Lanzarote (Canary Islands). The served in genus belongs to the Pardaliscidae, a predominantly bathyal/ free-swimming ("pelagic") the water. abyssal family. A possible evolutionary scenario for both with and They are unpigmented, a pink intestine, species is discussed. fauna devoid of eye pigment. The accompanying is of several of relatively poor, consisting species Résumé Gastropoda. Dr. H. E. Coomans (Institute of décrit des On un genre et espèce nouveaux d’Amphipodes Taxonomic of eaux d’une grotte de Providenciales (Iles Caicos), sous le Zoology, University Amsterdam) nom de Spelaeonicippe provo. Une autre espèce appartenant has been kind enough to examine these mollusks est d’une de Lanzarote au même genre connue grotte (Iles and he informs us (in litt.) that seven species are Le famille Canaries). genre appartient aux Pardaliscidae, con- Dead des represented. shells of Echininus nodulosus nue surtout étages bathyal et abyssal. On présente un scénario évolutif deux plausible pour ces espèces. (Pfeiffer, 1839), Truncatella caribaeensis (Reeve, and 1842), Melampus (Microtralia) sp. (possibly M. minusculus) were present, together with live INTRODUCTION and dead of Of E. specimens Lyrodes sp. these, nodulosus and T. caribaeensis are living in the of the fauna of the During a survey groundwater marine fringe of the supralittoral of the coast; Bahamas and the islands in the West adjoining lives in and Lyrodes pools springs, near the sea; of taken in Indies, a sample Amphipoda was a is inhabitant Melampus an of brackish waters. All so-called "water hole" on an Providenciales, and all certain are superficial species, indicate a island in the western of the Caicos to part group, relation to the marine environment. In addition, the north of Haiti. The "water hole" in question the terrestrial cave yielded a number of snails, all is in an oblique fissure in the calcareous rocks, no doubt washed in from the surface, viz., Bo- direct with the table. This contact underlying water and thriopupa sp., Gastrocopta sp., members of "water hole" be classified particular may as a the No other family Chrondropomidae. macro- "marginal cave" Riedl & Ozretic, 1969) (sensu or microfaunal elements were observed in this or anchihaline habitat (sensu Holthuis, 1973), particular water hole, but a nearby water hole, since the high chlorinity of its waters (ll.l°/oo) presumably part of the same subterranean water points to extensive subterranean connections with harboured Ma- system, Typhlatya sp. (Decapoda and Sesarma crura) sp. (Decapoda Brachyura). Typhlatya is a wide-spread stygobiont element in has been in *) Report no. 15 published Bijdr. Dierk., 51 (2): the West Indies, of marine 375-387 (1981). probably origin (cf. Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:44:27AM via free access 4 J. H. STOCK & J. J. VERMEULEN - CAVE PARDALISCIDAE the Stock, 1981), and Sesarma is a marine and mixo- related to Nicippe, is still more close to cave haline In faunal animals from and is therefore genus. summary, most elements Providenciales, in the holes the of Providen- reckoned the Certain dif- water near airport to genus Spelaeonicippe. ciales have distinct marine affinities. ferences in its appendages, in addition to the The called ocean-wide between the caves of Amphipoda belong to a new genus, geographical gap in related to the Ni- Providenciales and Lanzarote, justify our Spelaeonicippe, closely genus member of that the Canarian and West Indian cippe Bruzelius, 1859, a the family opinion popu- lations treated Pardaliscidae. This family is well-characterized by are to be as separate species. the distinct molar mandible, lacking a process; small inner and by the very outer plates of the THE HABITAT OF SPELAEONICIPPE maxillipeds; by the short coxal plates; and by the elongate, lanceolate rami of the third uropods Both localities from which Spelaeonicippe is Lanzarote and in at (Barnard, 1969). known, Providenciales, agree least three respects: (1) The caves are of relatively young geological BATHYMETRICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE del Lanzarote is age. The Jameos Agua on part PARDALISCIDAE lava of a tube formed 3000-5000 years ago (Wil- The Pardaliscidae are predominantly bathyal/ kins & Parzefall, 1974). The extensive karst ero- which abyssal/hadal, pelagic Amphipoda (Bousfield, sion, during caves were formed by ground- and Birstein Providenciales 1978), & Vinogradov (1962: 249) water solution, on developed during them "one the families the consider as of basic abyssal low sea-level stages (at -100 to -120 m) of of The which the Pleistocene thus sometime be- gammarids". genus Nicippe to (Mather, 1975), and present cave amphipods are most closely related, tween 10,000 1,000,000 years ago. is in and Providen- not restricted to the deep sea. Most of its records (2) The cave waters Lanzarote the lower ciales The Lanzarote are from part of the continental shelf are salty. lava tube runs from and the of the continental the volcano la Corona to the coast where it is upper part slope (110- 600 cf. flooded The blue holes and other m; Metzger, 1875; Sars, 1893; Chevreux, by seawater. karst extend 1900; Enequist, 1949; Gurjanova, 1951; Ledoyer, features on Providenciales often in- with down below sea level and are 1973, 1977), exceptional deeper ones, present nowadays to 1393 m (cf. Stephensen, 1931). According to undated by seawater, due to sea-level rises at the certain authors Karaman end of the ice and — to lesser (Barnard, 1959; & ages, perhaps a this extent — due to the subsidence Schiecke, 1973) genus penetrates also in general regional waters of the of the of the Bahamas upper part shelf, though platform. In in fluctuates always in the sublittoral (from 35 m down). Lanzarote, the salinity the cave Bousfield states that the around 37°/ with a Although (1978) 00 (corresponding chlorinity Ene- which is members of the Pardaliscidae are carnivorous, of some 20.4°/oo)> slightly (0-l°/oo) that of the quist (1949) supposes that at least Nicippe might inferior to adjoining ocean (Wilkins table The be a detritus feeder, and Wilkins & Parzefall & Parzefall, 1974, I). water hole on diatoms (1974) consider the primary food source Providenciales has a chlorinity that is distinctly of Spelaeonicippe buchi (as Nicippe). lower than that of the surrounding ocean, viz. the which is still for Only one member of family Pardaliscidae about ll.l%o, but very salty has been found outside the in waters: inland fresh water mixes open sea cave groundwater. Apparently, described with of marine not Andres (1975) a new species, under salty groundwater origin, a the name of buchi from a lava tunnel uncommon situation in the Bahamian Nicippe , archipelago. well-known has in (the Jameos del Agua) on the island (3) Spelaeonicippe been found both the of Lanzarote in the Canarian archipelago. As will West Indian and the Canarian locality in con- be shown in the taxonomic part of the present ditions where light could penetrate and not in the As Par- paper, Canarian cave species, though closely total darkness. to Lanzarote, Wilkins & Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 11:44:27AM via free access BIJDRAGEN TOT DE DIERKUNDE, 52 (1) - 1982 5 zefall that this is leaves the from time (1974) believe not accidental, gravel on the cave bottom to since the feed swim amphipods are supposed to on time, to around freely, and to disappear in the in the after while. The microscopic algae developing cave waters. again substrate a new For West Indian less certain of found in the West Indies the locality, we are species Spelaeonicippe shows similar but Gamma- about this point, because the totally dark parts a behaviour, hadziid the "water hole" ridae have been of were not explored (so no never observed swimming around information is available about absence in the water. The recent presence or freely relatively origin of in and marine Spelaeonicippe those parts), no diatom (from ancestors) of the pardaliscid cave with growth was observed in the entrance area of Amphipoda seems in good agreement (1) the cave. the existence of close relatives in continental shelf and and their in slope waters, (2) occurrence formed in geologically young caves, pleistocene/ ORIGIN OF THE FAUNA IN THE MARGINAL CAVES holocene times. OF LANZAROTE AND PROVIDENCIALES At if blind hadziid any rate, Spelaeonicippe or It accidental del to discovered can hardly be that in the Jameos Gammaridae are be in the open sea, will be meio- Agua on Lanzarote, in addition to Spelaeonicippe we suppose they shallow-water, faunal buchi (a species which is undoubtedly related to elements in coarse substrates. It is from the tumida such and not from the sublittoral/bathyal species Nicippe elements, abyssal ones, that Bruzelius, 1859), two other organisms with deep- cave forms presumably evolved. In agreement with water affinities occur: Munnidopsis polymorpha this view is the fact that the temperatures in the Koelbel, 1892 (Anomura, Galatheidae) and Mu- Lanzarote cave (18.0-18.5° C) and in the Provi- similar cellicephala jameensis Hartmann-Schroder, 1974 denciales cave (23.8° C) are closely to (Polychaeta, Polynoidae). shallow-water temperatures in the neighbouring We do not share Wilkins & Parzefall's opinion ocean, and not at all to bathyal/abyssal tem- (1974: 431) that the animals in the Jameos del peratures of 10-4° C in the neighbouring ocean.