THESES ZOOLOGICAE Antarctic Isopoda Valvifera by J. W. Wagele
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THESES ZOOLOGICAE VOLUME 14 EDITOR: RONALD FRICKE Synopses of the Antarctic Benthos Volume 2 Editors: J. W. Wagele & J. Sieg Antarctic Isopoda Valvifera by J. W. Wagele »S KOENIGSTEIN KOELTZ SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 1991 Author's Address Johann-Wolfgang Wagele Fachbereich Biologie Universitat Oldenburg Postfach 2503 D-2900 Oldenburg/Germany © Koeltz Scientific Books, D-6240 Konigstein/Germany ISBN 3-87429-324-6 Koeltz Scientific Books (USA), RR7, Box 39 Champaign, Illinois 61821, USA ISBN 1-878762-18-4 ISSN 0934-8956 CONTENTS 1. Introduction 9 2. Early studies on Antarctic Isopoda 10 3. Morphology and Glossary of Special Terms 13 3.1. Morphology 13 3.2. Glossary 16 4. Anatomy 18 5. Development and Reproduction 20 6. The Biology of Antarctic Isopoda 22 7. Collection, Preservation and Examination 33 8. Systematic Part 34 8.1. Classification of the Isopoda 34 8.2. Key to Suborders found in Antarctica 37 8.3. Suborder Valvifera 41 8.4. Key to the Families of the Suborder Valvifera 42 8.5 Family Chaetiliidae 43 8.5.1. Key to the Genera of Antarctic Chaetiliidae 43 8.5.2. Glyptonotus 43 8.5.3. Macrochiridotea 47 8.6. Family Idoteidae 51 8.6.1. Key to the Antarctic Genera of Idoteidae 51 ' 8.6.2. Cleantis 52 8.6.3. Zenobianopsis 54 8.6.4. Edotia 57 8.6.5. Erichsonella 71 8.6.6. Idotea 73 8.6.7. Paridotea 76 8.7. Family Arcturidae 79 8.7.1. Key to the Subfamilies of Arcturidae 79 8.7.2. Subfamily Pseudidotheinae 80 8.7.2.1. Key to the Genera of Antarctic Pseudidotheinae 81 8.7.2.2. Arcturides 82 8.7.2.3. Pseudidothea 84 8.7.3. Subfamily Arcturinae 88 8.7.3.1. Key to the Genera of Antarctic Arcturinae 88 8.7.3.2. Neastacilla 91 8.7.3.3. Dolichiscus 98 8.7.3.4. Paradolichiscus 112 8.7.3.5. Chaetarcturus 117 8.7.3.6. Tuberarcturus 126 8.7.3.7. Litarcturus 130 8.7.3.8. Oxyarcturus 138 8.7.3.9. Antarcturus 144 8.7.3.10. Acantharcturus 168 8.7.3.11. Mixarcturus 170 8.7.3.12. Fissarcturus 174 8.7.3.13. Cylindrarcturus 180 8.7.3.14. Neoarcturus 182 8.7.3.15. Rectarcturus 192 9. Acknowledgements 194 10. References 195 11. Index 207 FOREWORD The Synopses of the Antarctic Benthos are designed to meet the needs of zoologists and naturalists interested in the Antarctic ecosystem. All volumes are written by specialists in their own fields. It was intended to publish all the information needed for the identification of species leav ing out data which are of interest only for specialized taxonomists. If you find specimens you cannot identify with the help of these volumes, your material may belong to new species, which should be described carefully and as completely as possible. Please send this material to a specialist. The series will not be complete because of two reasons: The Southern Ocean has until today many unexplored areas, in future many new species will be described which were not known to our authors; for some tax- onomic groups no specialists could be found. Nevertheless we hope that the volumes will help all those working with Antarctic benthos and that the efforts of the taxonomists who have given their knowledge, time and services to write a monograph will be used for the description and protec tion of one of the most untouched ecosystems of our planet. J.W. Wagele, J. Sieg (Editors) 1. INTRODUCTION The Amphipoda and the Isopoda are the most frequent crustaceans found in benthic environments of Antarctica. These groups are also an important element of the sea floor fauna in temperate and tropical seas, but there the largest crustaceans are always the Decapoda. It seems that in Antarctica most of the decapod crustaceans disappeared in the course of the climatic changes that led to the glaciation of the southern continent. The life cycle, especially the larval development of most Decapoda could probably not be adapted to the short phytoplankton blooms and the low temperatures that slow down the metabolism. Antarctic invertebrate faunas have a high percentage of species with lecitotrophic larvae or direct development and brooding (Arnaud 1977, Dell 1972, Magniez 1983, Pearse et al. 1985, Picken 1979, 1980). This might be the reason for the success of the higher evolved Peracarida, who are entirely brooders. The isopods considered in this monograph are those known from the area between the Antarctic convergence, the Subantarctic archipelagos and the littoral of the Antarctic continent, including the deep sea of the Southern Ocean. Several of the species mentioned in this series are still poorly known; it is no secret that sometaxonomic publications of the past do not allow a clear determination of species, that several published drawings are not very useful. To prepare this monograph a series of taxonomic studies were carried out and published elsewhere, based on material from expedi tions of RV "Polarstern" to the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean and : on collections kept in different museums. Nevertheless, much work still ! remains to be done and still many species are waiting for their discovery ! and scientific study. 10 2. EARLY STUDIES ON ANTARCTIC ISOPODA Early in the nineteenth century, when the southern borders of the circum- polar ocean were known, the most interesting elements of the Antarctic fauna seemed to be the whales, while only few scientists started to collect plants and invertebrates. One of these scientists was James Eights, who was "the first qualified naturalist to set foot on land south of the Antarc tic Convergence" (Hedgpeth 1971). He took part in Captain E. Fanning's expedition to South America and Antarctica in 1829-1831 and collected a large number of natural history specimens, among these the first Antarc tic isopods. His description of "Brongniartia" trilobitoides from the shores of the South Shetland Islands was published in 1833. Eights was puzzled by the similarity with the extinct trilobites, but correctly placed his new species in the Crustacea Malacostraca. As we know today, this similarity is a consequence of the adaptations to life on sandy bottoms which are characteristic for the Serolidae (Wagele, 1989). In a note published in 1852 Eights suspected that his species was possibly a Serolis. It is the largest species of its family known until today. The same is true for Glyptonotus antarcticus (Family Chaetiliidae), "... a New Animal belonging to the Crustacea, discovered in the Antarctic Seas, by the author James Eights" (1852), also from the shores of the South Shetlands. Some smaller publications followed. Dana for example described in 1852 Cleantis linearis, Chaetilia ovata (Valvifera) and Exosphaeroma gigas from Patagonia, collected during Charles Wilkes' U.S. Exploring Expedi tion, while during the Antarctic cruises no new isopods were taken. A Patagonian Serolis was named after the governor of Punta Arenas S. schythei by Liitken (1858). Studer (1879, 1882) studied the material col lected by the German 'Gazelle' expedition (1874-1876), described Serolis cornuta (now Ceratoserolis) and S. ovalis, Arcturus furcatus (now Antarc- turus) and the interesting new genus Arcturides (for A. cornutus n.sp.), all from Kerguelen. Studer (1882) realized that Arcturides was mor phologically a link between the Idoteidae and the specialized Arcturus. Further subantarctic collections were studied by Miers, among these materials brought back from Kerguelen by officers of the Antarctic expedition of James Ross, who visited the island in May and June 1840 (Miers 1879). The "Southern Cross" expedition of 1898-1900 led by C.E. 11 Borchgrevink, with the first wintering shore party on the continent at Cape Adare, yielded a first collection of 9 high-Antarctic species, most of them from Cape Adare, described by Hodgson (1902). An important contribution to our knowledge of the Antarctic fauna was based on the material of the "Challenger" expedition, led by C.W. Thom son to the area around Marion and Heard Island and the Kerguelen Islands between December 1873 and February 1874. The isopods were studied by Beddard, who published in 1884 beautiful plates of species of Serolis and in 1886 descriptions and excellent drawings of the remaining taxa. Though the descriptions were not as' complete as those of the famous Norwegian zoologist G.O. Sars, the standard of these drawings was not reached by many of the scientists who published in the twentieth century. A first comprehensive study of the crustaceans of South Georgia was prepared by Pfeffer (1887, 1890). Here we find the names of some species, which are common in more southern areas, as 'Chelonidiurrf (Plakarthrium) punctatissimum and Glyptonotus antarcticus, as well as other species, which do not reach farther south (Sphaeromatidae). During the German Deep-Sea Expedition (1898-1899) with the "Valdivia", a former Hamburg-America liner, four arcturids were obtained and later studied by zur Strassen (1902). Zur Strassen erected the new genus Antarc- turus for the southern arcturids and described A. oryx from off Bouvet Island. The first remarkable collection from high Antarctic sites was obtained during R. Scott's "Discovery" expedition, which led into the Ross Sea (1902). TV. Hodgson collected and described (1910) 23 species, most of them illustrated in 10 fine plates. The material from the German South Polar Expedition (1901-1903) under E. von Drygalski with the "Gauss", which was frozen in the ice close to the continent (66°2'9"S 89°38'5"E) is of comparable importance, but VanhOffen's drawings are of poorer quality (Vanhoffen 1914). Jean Charcot's first expedition with the "Francais" (1903-1905) also car ried out biological programmes. The small collection of isopods was described by Miss H.