Hirondellea namarensis (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Hirondelleidae), a new deep-water scavenger species from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Horton, Tammy and Thurston, Michael (2013) Hirondellea namarensis (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Hirondelleidae), a new deep-water scavenger species from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. [in special issue: Benthos of the Sub-Polar Front Area on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Results of the ECOMAR Project] Marine Biology Research, 9 (5-6), 554-562. (doi:10.1080/17451000.2012.749994).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A new species of the deep-sea scavenging genus Hirondellea (Crustacea: Amphipoda) is described from bathyal depths in the Azores region and on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The new species belongs to a group of Hirondellea species which possess an incised inner ramus of uropod 2 and an anteriorly directed spine on epimeron 1. It can be distinguished from other members of this group by a combination of characters: the gnathopod 1 and 2 palm shape; the broadly rounded epimeron 3; the longer telson and broadly rounded head lobe; and the broadly rounded epistome. The species most closely resembles H. wolfendeni, from which it can be distinguished by the shape of the propod of gnathopod 2 and the length of the pereopod 7 propodus. An updated key to the genus Hirondellea is provided.

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