New Kinorhyncha from Florida Coastal Waters
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Helgol Mar Res (2014) 68:59–87 DOI 10.1007/s10152-013-0369-9 ORIGINAL ARTICLE New Kinorhyncha from Florida coastal waters Marı´a Herranz • Nuria Sa´nchez • Fernando Pardos • Robert P. Higgins Received: 4 May 2013 / Revised: 8 August 2013 / Accepted: 11 September 2013 / Published online: 2 October 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and AWI 2013 Abstract Four new species of Kinorhynchs are described Higgins 1964a, 1965). Two additional species, Campylo- from the West Atlantic coast off Fort Pierce, Florida, USA. deres sp. reported as Campyloderes macquariae Johnston They are the following: Antygomonas gwenae n. sp., 1938 by Higgins (1980) and posteriorly assigned to Cam- Echinoderes riceae n. sp., Echinoderes adrianovi n. sp. and pyloderes cf. vanhoeffeni by Neuhaus and Sørensen (2013); Pycnophyes norenburgi n. sp. All species were collected at and Centroderes spinosus Reinhard 1881 recognized as a the same locality called ‘‘20 miles station.’’ Samples were new species of Centroderes by Neuhaus, Pardos, Sørensen processed for standard granulometric data, yielding an and Higgins (in preparation), were found later by Higgins estimated average particle diameter of 250 lm. The diag- (1982) in the same area. The latter species was not iden- nostic characters and the general morphology of the new tified correctly, and his recording represents a yet unde- species are discussed in depth as well as the diversity and scribed species. Blake’s three species are replaced by three distribution of Kinorhyncha in the area. similar species in the area stretching from Beaufort, North Carolina to Florida. They include Pycnophyes beaufort- Keywords Kinorhyncha Á Meiofauna Á Florida Á ensis Higgins 1964; Kinorhynchus langi Higgins 1964; and Echinoderes Á Antygomonas Á Pycnophyes Echinoderes bookhouti Higgins 1964 (see Higgins 1964b). The kinorhynch fauna of Bermuda reported by Higgins (1982) includes Echinoderes bispinosus Higgins 1982; Introduction Echinoderes bermudensis Higgins 1982; Kinorhynchus fimbriatus Higgins 1982; and a new species of Centroderes. The kinorhynch fauna reported from the East coast of the All of the above species were collected subtidally, but in USA includes currently 14 species. The first three kin- 1977, two new cyclorhagid kinorhynchs were found in orhynch species recorded and described in the area were intertidal habitats. Echinoderes sublicarum Higgins 1977 Echinoderes remanei Blake 1930; Pycnophyes frequens was found in bryozoan colonies on pilings in a tidal stream Blake 1930; and Kinorhynchus mainensis Blake 1930. in the North River Inlet, South Carolina, and Echinoderes These three species were found to form a common coulli Higgins 1977 and was found in the mud of this same assemblage from Maine to Massachusetts (Wieser 1960; intertidal creek area. This latter species was the first kin- orhynch published with a complete series of juvenile developmental stages (see Higgins 1977). Communicated by H.-D. Franke. The knowledge of the marine fauna in Atlantic Florida waters has been improved along many years by the M. Herranz (&) Á N. Sa´nchez Á F. Pardos Dpto. Zoologı´a y Antropologı´aFı´sica, Facultad de Biologı´a, research activities developed through the Smithsonian Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/Jose´ Antonio Novais 2, Marine Station at Fort Pierce, FL. It became well known 28040 Madrid, Spain among researchers that these waters constitute a kind of hot e-mail: [email protected] spot for meiobenthic communities. Accordingly, study sites R. P. Higgins were established in 5-mile increments seaward from Fort 122 Strawbridge Court, Asheville, NC 28803, USA Pierce, Florida, between 1975 and 1995 by R. P Higgins, a 123 60 Helgol Mar Res (2014) 68:59–87 research effort that focused mainly on the phylum Kin- Sediment samples for granulometric studies were wet- orhyncha. Several new species appeared but only Ze- sieved using fresh water to remove salt through a series of linkaderes floridensis Higgins 1990 was described geological sieves with 0.5-phi (u) intervals. Phi (u) =- formally. Z. floridensis is a cyclorhagid kinorhynch, which log2 of mesh size in mm (1,000, 500, 250, 125 and 63 lm represented a new family, the Zelinkaderidae (see Higgins mesh). A mechanical shaker was used for a period of 1990). This species occurs primarily at depths around 15 min. The material retained on each sieve was placed in 140 m in the muddy sand found 20 miles offshore. More disposable aluminum weighing pans and dried in an oven recently, M. V. Sørensen collected at different localities off at 80 °C for 24 h. After drying, each fraction of the Fort Pierce and described four new species including a new material was weighted. The sediment weight fractions genus: Echinoderes spinifurca Sørensen et al. 2005, Ze- (calculated in percent of the total sample) (Fig. 2a) were linkaderes brightae Sørensen et al. 2007, Antygomonas transformed into a cumulative frequency series and then paulae Sørensen 2007 and Tubulideres seminoli Sørensen plotted as a cumulative frequency curve (Fig. 2b). In the et al. 2007 (see Sørensen et al. 2007). latter, the medium particle diameter, i.e., the u value cor- The purpose of this paper is to describe the remaining responding to the 50 % point of the cumulative scale (Md species from Bob Higgins’ old samplings from the deepest u or u 50), is estimated. The ‘‘quartile deviation’’ (QD) and richest of the stations hereafter referred to as ‘‘20 miles expresses the number of phi (u) units lying between the station’’ combining his results with new records from upper and lower quartile diameters Q1 and Q3 (Fig. 2b). recent samplings. Thus, sediment with a small spread between the quartiles, i.e., a small QD u, is regarded as being ‘‘well sorted’’ (Higgins and Thiel 1988). Materials and methods In the samples from 1993, kinorhynchs were sorted under a stereomicroscope, fixed in 10 % formalin and, after Sediment samples were taken in August 1993 from one 24 h, transferred to 20 % Carosafe Ò (Carolina Biological single station: the ‘‘20 miles site,’’ 27°300N, 79°560Wat Supply, Co.). Selected specimens were later transferred to 140-m depth (Fig. 1) from sandy mud using a Higgins 2 % glycerin in 70 % ethanol, which was allowed to anchor dredge (Higgins and Thiel 1988) from the R/V evaporate over a period of about 5 days, thereby leaving Sunburst (Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce). The the specimens in glycerin only. From the glycerin, each anchor dredge was designed to sample only the upper few specimen was transferred to a drop of Hoyer’s 150 centimeters of sediment, thereby eliminating the need for mounting medium (Higgins and Thiel 1988) on the base processing large volumes of otherwise uninhabited sedi- coverslip of an H–S slide mount (Higgins and Thiel 1988; ment. Additional material was collected in August 2011, at Shirayama et al. 1993). A 12-mm-diameter, circle cover the same station from the same R/V and using the same glass was placed on the mounting medium and manipulated dredge. to orient the specimen. A N USA NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN 20 m 30 m 40 m 50 m 100 m 150 m 200 m 250 m 20 B 10 m Fort Pierce 0 m 0 m Florida 100 100 200 27°26’20’’N 80°20’8’’W 200 300 300 20 C 10 mi 10 km Fig. 1 Map showing a Florida (inset), western North Atlantic Ocean. b Locality of the study off Fort Pierce Station corresponding to miles off shore indicated by numbers in oval. c Transect showing depths from 0 to 300 m with vertical line corresponding to the 20 miles station 123 Helgol Mar Res (2014) 68:59–87 61 20 miles site sediment Results A 25 20 Granulometry 15 Results of the sediment analyses (Fig. 2) show that a high 10 Dry Wt (%) percentage of the dry weight of the sediment is represented 5 by grain size fractions ranging from 500 to 62 lm, with 62 lm occurring as the most frequent grain size consti- 0 2000 1000 500 250 125 62 <62 tuting 23 % of the sediment, followed by 125 lm with Grain size fraction (µm) 22 % and 250 lm with 17 %. Grain fractions from 250 to 62 lm constitute around 64 % of the total sediment. B 20 miles site sediment Cumulative dry weight graphic shows a higher slope in 120 between 250 and 62 lm as well, showing a mean particle 100 size around 250 lm. The grain size fractions less repre- 80 sented are the smallest \62 lm and the biggest 2,000 lm Md=~250 Q3 60 with a 2.8 and 3.4 %, respectively. However, the amount of the fraction smaller than 62 lm is not totally reliable due to 40 the use of 63-lm mesh to take the samples. That means that 20 Q1 Cumulative Dry Wt (%) part of the finest fraction could have been washed out 0 during the collection in the periphery of the dredge. 2000 1000 500 250 125 62 <62 Grain size fraction (µm) Taxonomic account Fig. 2 Grain size fractions plotted: a against dry weight (%) b against cumulative dry weight (%). Md medium particle diameter. Antygomonas gwenae n. sp. (Figs. 3, 4; Tables 1, 2) Q1,3 quartile diameters Order Cyclorhagida (Zelinka 1896) Higgins 1964 Specimens collected in 2011 were fixed in 10 % Family Antygomonidae Adrianov and Malakhov 1994 formalin. For light microscopy (LM) selected specimens Genus Antygomonas Nebelsick 1990 were later dehydrated through a graded series of ethanol and transferred to glycerin prior to mounting in Fluoro- Diagnosis mount GÒ. All specimens were examined and photo- graphed using an Olympus BX51 microscope with Antygomonas with a very sclerotized cuticle. Anterior edge differential interference contrast optics equipped with an of the first trunk segment with a conspicuous notch in Olympus Colorview DP70 camera.