A New Shrimp Genus (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Deep Atlantic and an Unusual Cleaning Mechanism of Pelagic Decapods
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovski Prospekt 36, 117997 Moscow, Russia
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Academic Editor: Michael Wink
Diversity 2021, 13(11), 536; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13110536
Received: 7 October 2021
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Revised: 22 October 2021
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Accepted: 22 October 2021
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Published: 26 October 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 2021 Feature Papers by Diversity’s Editorial Board Members)
The deep sea is the largest biome on Earth and hosts the majority of as yet undescribed species; description of these may trigger a new mindset about evolution and function of characters. We describe and diagnose a new genus and species Sclerodora crosnieri sp. nov. belonging to the superfamily Oplophoroidea. We examined and coded 81 characters for morphological analyses and used four gene markers for molecular analyses involving the new taxon and representatives of all other genera of Oplophoroidea. Retrieved morphological and molecular trees were similar and suggested that the new genus is a sister group to Hymenodora and both form a clade sister to the rest of Acanthephyridae. We provide an amended key to all genera of Oplophoroidea. We found an unusual chelate structure on the dactyl of the fifth pereopod, tested and confirmed a hypothesis that this structure is common for the whole family Acanthephyridae. We suggest that this derived structure is linked to an active cleaning of branchia—a function associated with chelipeds in some other carid shrimps. Convergent chelate structures are likely efficient for cleaning branchia, whichever appendage is adapted for these functions. In Oplophoridae (sister to Acanthephyridae), cleaning function is carried out by well-developed epipods.
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Keywords:
Caridea; phylogeny; morphology; new taxon; Oplophoroidea
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MDPI and ACS Style
Vereshchaka, A.; Kulagin, D.; Lunina, A. A New Shrimp Genus (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Deep Atlantic and an Unusual Cleaning Mechanism of Pelagic Decapods. Diversity 2021, 13, 536. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13110536
AMA Style
Vereshchaka A, Kulagin D, Lunina A. A New Shrimp Genus (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Deep Atlantic and an Unusual Cleaning Mechanism of Pelagic Decapods. Diversity. 2021; 13(11):536. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13110536
Chicago/Turabian StyleVereshchaka, Alexander, Dmitry Kulagin, and Anastasiia Lunina. 2021. "A New Shrimp Genus (Crustacea: Decapoda) from the Deep Atlantic and an Unusual Cleaning Mechanism of Pelagic Decapods" Diversity 13, no. 11: 536. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13110536
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