Today my first first-author species description paper was published with Christiane Todt! Here, we describe three new species of meiofaunal solenogasters (neomenioids) from virtually right off the dock at Friday Harbor labs. One of them, Macellomenia schanderi, is named after the late Christoffer Schander who was a mentor and dear friend of mine. Thanks for everything, Chris! Another, Macellomenia morseae, is named after M. Patricia Morse who has also been a fantastic mentor to me and is an expert on all things meiofaunal.
One of the most interesting aspects of this paper is the implications for biogeography. The genus Macellomenia was previously only known from the
European Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Now we've found two species in the Pacific. The crazy thing is that one of our new Pacific species is pretty clearly more closely related to an Atlantic species with a similar copulatory apparatus than it is to its sympatric cogener. Likewise, Hypomenia is a genus previously only known from the Mediterranean Sea and now we've found a second species in the Pacific!
We've also sequenced transcriptomes for M. schanderi, Hypomenia sanjuanensis, and the other solenogaster previously described from this locality (by Trish Morse) Meiomenia swedmarki for our ongoing aplacophoran phylogenomics project.
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| Macellomenia schanderi sp. nov. (A) SEM micrograph of entire specimen, oblique ventral view. Position of anterior end (ant) and pedal groove (pg) indicated. Scale bar 200 μm; (B) ventral view of anterior body tip showing the atrium (a), mouth (mo) and the partially everted, ciliated pedal pit (pp). Scale bar 50 μm; (C) SEM micrograph of epidermal sclerites. The small insert shows a pedal scale (ps), the larger image illustrates the morphology of the main sclerite type with broadened base (bs) and flattened, recurved spine (s) covered in minute spinelets. Scale bar 10 μm; (D) SEM micrograph of the partially everted genital cone and pallial cavity opening (pc) with abdominal spines (asp) covered in mucus (muc). Scale bar 50 μm; (E) light micrograph of sclerites. Most of the body sclerites are intact although the acicular portion has been separated from the basal plate from several. There is one pedal scale (ps). Scale bar 50 μm. |
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| Scanning electron micrographs of Macellomenia morseae. (A) Juvenile specimen mounted with ventral surface facing upwards; anterior end (ant) and pedal groove (pg) indicated. Scale bar 200 μm; (B) close-up of pedal groove showing two types of pedal scales, pointed (a) and broad with a notch (b). Scale bar 20 μm; (C) lateral sclerites, some in the centre of the image showing cup-shaped broadened bases Scale bar 25 μm; (D) pedal pit (pp) surrounded by pointed scales (a). Scale bar 25 μm; (E) light micrographs of epidermal sclerites (black background: polarized light filter). Note nail-shaped sclerites (n) and more asymmetri- cally shaped sclerites (asterisk) in lateral (to the left and to the right) and frontal (centre of image) views; both types of pedal sclerites (a, b) are very thin and delicate. Scale bar 50 μm |
I'm really excited about this paper and about aplacophoran taxonomy. Hopefully there will be more where this came from soon - I am currently working on some interesting material from the Gulf of Mexico and New Zealand.
The paper can be downloaded here (let me know if you don't have access and want a copy):
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2014.961987#.VD7tNq1xOPI
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