On the genus Halirages (Crustacea, Amphipoda), with the description of two new species from Scandinavia and Arctic Europe

A new common deep-sea species of Halirages Boeck, 1871 closely related to H.qvadridentatus G.O. Sars, 1877, H.cainae sp. nov., is described after specimens collected in the Norwegian Sea during the MAREANO 2009-111 cruise. Examination of the syntypes of H. elegans Norman, 1882 demonstrates that Norman's species is a junior synonym of H.qvadridentatus G.O. Sars, 1877 and that the species usually named H.elegans in literature was actually undescribed. The name H.stappersi sp. nov. is proposed for that species. A key to and a checklist of Halirages species is given

The macro- and megabenthic fauna on the continental shelf of the eastern Amundsen Sea, Antarctica

In 2008 the BIOPEARL II expedition on board of RRS James Clark Ross sailed to the eastern Amundsen Sea Embayment and Pine Island Bay, one of the least studied Antarctic continental shelf regions due to its remoteness and ice cover. A total of 37 Agassiz trawls were deployed at depth transects along the continental and trough slopes. A total of 5,469 specimens, belonging to 32 higher taxonomic groups and more than 270 species, were collected. Species richness per station varied from 1–55. The benthic assemblages were dominated by echinoderms and clearly different to those in the Ross, Scotia and Weddell seas. Here we present the macro- and megafaunal assemblage structure, its species richness and the presence of several undescribed species

Taxonomy based on science is necessary for global conservation

Peer reviewe

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

The genus Liljeborgia in the Mediterranean Sea, with the description of a new species (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Liljeborgiidae)

D'Acoz, Cédric D'Udekem (2012): The genus Liljeborgia in the Mediterranean Sea, with the description of a new species (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Liljeborgiidae). Zootaxa 3310: 51-65, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.28103

A new genus and species of large-bodied caridean shrimp from the Crozet Islands, Southern Ocean (Crustacea, Decapoda, Lipkiidae) with a checklist of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic shrimps

D'Acoz, Cédric D'Udekem, Degrave, Sammy (2018): A new genus and species of large-bodied caridean shrimp from the Crozet Islands, Southern Ocean (Crustacea, Decapoda, Lipkiidae) with a checklist of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic shrimps. Zootaxa 4392 (2): 201-240, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4392.2.

Two new Pseudorchomene species from the Southern Ocean, with phylogenetic remarks on the genus and related species (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Lysianassidae: Tryphosinae)

Two new lysianassoid amphipods of the genus Pseudorchomene Schellenberg, 1926 from the Southern Ocean are described: P. debroyeri sp. n. collected in baited traps deployed around the Falkland Islands, Burdwood Bank and Îles Kerguelen between 55 and 470 m, and P. lophorachis sp. n. collected in baited traps and Agassiz trawls deployed in the Scotia and Weddell Seas at depths between 847 and 1943 m. P. lophorachis sp. n. is characterized by an strongly elongated first gnathopod and by the occurrence of low posterodorsal humps on the body segments. P. debroyeri sp. n. is very similar to P. coatsi (Chilton, 1912) but exhibits slight differences of proportions in the articles of gnathopods 1 and 2, more spines on pereopods and more acute spines on the propodus of pereopods 3-7. Molecular data indicate the existence of a welldefined clade comprising P. lophorachis sp. n., P. debroyeri sp. n., P. coatsi (Chilton, 1912), Abyssorchomene plebs (Hurley, 1965) and A. rossi (Walker, 1903). On the other hand, A. plebs and A. rossi do not form a clade with A. chevreuxi (Stebbing, 1906), which is the type species of the genus Abyssorchomene De Broyer, 1984. The definition of Pseudorchomene is amended, so that it now includes P. coatsi, P. debroyeri, P. lophorachis, P. plebs and P. rossi. The triangular coxa 1 in these 5 species is unique for 'orchomenid' lysianassoids, thus considered as a putative synapomorphy. P. coatsi (Antarctic species) is morphologically extremely similar to P. debroyeri (sub-Antarctic species) but it is genetically closer to the morphologically distinct P. lophorachis (Antarctic species). Hypotheses for these recent speciations and the mor phological evolution within Pseudorchomene are discussed. The type species and the nomenclatural history of the genus Tryphosa Boeck, 1871, which is the type genus of the subfamily Tryphosinae, are discussed. Copyright © 2012 · Magnolia Press

Locked in the icehouse: Evolution of an endemic Epimeria (Amphipoda, Crustacea) species flock on the Antarctic shelf

The Antarctic shelf's marine biodiversity has been greatly influenced by the climatic and glacial history of the region. Extreme temperature changes led to the extinction of some lineages, while others adapted and flourished. The amphipod genus Epimeria is an example of the latter, being particularly diverse in the Antarctic region. By reconstructing a time-calibrated phylogeny based on mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (28S and H3) markers and including Epimeria species from all oceans, this study provides a temporal and geographical framework for the evolution of Antarctic Epimeria. The monophyly of this genus is not supported by Bayesian Inference, as Antarctic and non-Antarctic Epimeria form two distinct well-supported clades, with Antarctic Epimeria being a sister clade to two stilipedid species. The monophyly of Antarctic Epimeria suggests that this clade evolved in isolation since its origin. While the precise timing of this origin remains unclear, it is inferred that the Antarctic lineage arose from a late Gondwanan ancestor and hence did not colonize the Antarctic region after the continent broke apart from the other fragments of Gondwanaland. The initial diversification of the clade occurred 38.04Ma (95% HPD [48.46Ma; 28.36Ma]) in a cooling environment. Adaptation to cold waters, along with the extinction of cold-intolerant taxa and resulting ecological opportunities, likely led to the successful diversification of Epimeria on the Antarctic shelf. However, there was neither evidence of a rapid lineage diversification early in the clade's history, nor of any shifts in diversification rates induced by glacial cycles. This suggests that a high turnover rate on the repeatedly scoured Antarctic shelf could have masked potential signals of diversification bursts