Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948

Brutto, Sabrina Lo, Iaciofano, Davide, Lubinevsky, Hadas & Galil, Bella S., 2016, Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948 (Amphipoda, Aoridae) — first record of an established population in the Mediterranean Sea, Zootaxa 4092 (4), pp. 518-528 : 521-525

Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948

( Figs 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 )

Synonym section:

Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948: 12 , fig. 3.—Myers, 1970: 141, fig. 1–2.—Myers, 1972: 790; 1981: 218.— Ledoyer, 1973: 40.—Griffiths, 1974b: 282.—Asari & Myers, 1982: 252, figs 9–10.—Lowry & Stoddart, 2003: 70 (catalogue).

Grandidierella megnae . —Chilton, 1921: 548, fig. 10.—Stephensen, 1933: 434.—Shoemaker, 1935: 70.

Unciolella lunata .—Schellenberg, 1928: 669, fig. 207.

Grandidierella bonnieri .—K.H. Barnard, 1935: 299.—Panikkar & Aiyar, 1937: 294.—Schellenberg, 1938: 215.—Shoemaker, 1948: 11, fig. 3.—K.H. Barnard, 1951: 708; 1952: 279, fig. 1.—Ruffo, 1958: 58, figs 8, 9.—Nayar, 1959: 38, pl. 14, figs 1–5; 1966: 161, fig. 17f. —Ledoyer, 1967: 137, fig. 28a; 1968: 287, fig. 25b.—Griffiths, 1973: 283; 1974a: 228.

Material examined. Israel. Haifa Bay 32° 55’ 07’’ N, 35° 04’ 33’’ E, depth 7.85 m, 7 August 2014, 8 males, 48 females, 171 immature (1 male, 6 females, 27 immature; 3 males, 29 females, 99 immature; 4 males, 13 females, 45 immature, respectively in the three replicates). 1 male, 2 females, 10 immature (SMNH TAU AR-29389), the balance retained in the Zoological Museum of the University of Palermo (MZPA-AMPH-0008).

(The bold-italic parts are diagnostic descriptions).

Diagnosis: Male, 3.3 mm (MZPA-AMPH-0008m). Head lateral cephalic lobes apically truncate. Antenna 1 flagellum with about 19 articles; accessory flagellum with one long and one distal rudimentary article. Antenna 2 with few long setae. Lower lip with fine setae only. Maxilla 1 inner plate without setae. Mandible, palp article 3 subequal to 2, posterior margin substraight, setae distal. Pereonites 1–3 with apically acute sternal spines. Gnathopod 1 enlarged in males only; coxa unproduced anterodistally. Gnathopod 1 coxa ventral margin without small spine, basis robust, half or more as broad as long, without a spine, anterior margin without stridulating ridges, posterodistal margin with setae sparse, anterodistal margin with flange weak; ischium anterior margin without flange, posterior margin with setae sparse; merus not greatly elongated, fused along its entire length with carpus, posterior margin with sparse setae, without posterodistal spine; carpus twice length of propodus, anterior margin without stridulating ridges, with setae sparse, anterior margin with no spine, a row of setae on inner face, posterior margin with submarginal spine (lacking in smaller males), strong posterodistal spine, and smaller obtuse distal spine; propodus, anterior margin weakly setiferous, posterior margin straight or evenly convex, palm absent; dactylus more than half length of propodus. Gnathopod 2 subchelate; basis anterodistal margin without flange, posterodistal margin without robust setae, with few setae along length of basis; merus not enlarged or produced away from carpus; carpus longer than propodus, anterior margin not lobate, with a few spaced setae; propodus with few setae, palm with pair of robust setae defining palm. Pereopod 3 – 7 absent in all the Mediterranean collected specimens. Uropod 1 rami subequal, peduncle much longer than broad, distoventral spine one fifth length of peduncle. Uropod 2 biramous; peduncle without distoventral spine. Uropod 3 uniramous, ramus at least twice length of peduncle. Telson with distal fine setae only.

Female, 3.25 mm (MZPA-AMPH-0008f) (sexually dimorphic characters). Sternal spines absent. Gnathopod 1 basis slender, much less than half as broad as long; carpus a little longer than propodus; propodus palm present, evenly continuous with posterior margin, posterior margin with three robust setae; dactylus significantly overlapping palm.

Remarks. Among all the Aoridae known from Mediterranean Sea (Myers 1982; Christodoulou 2013) and Red Sea (Ruffo 1959; Sorbe et al. 2002), only Grandidierella genus has together uropod 3 uniramous and gnathopod 1 carpochelate in male. The only Grandidierella species, recorded in area adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea, are G. japonica from Atlantic coast of France (Jourde et al. 2013) and G. bonnieroides from the Red Sea side of Suez Canal (Schellenberg 1928). These two species can be delimited by the presence/absence of the transverse ridges on the anterior margin of carpus of the gnathopods 1 in male, present in G. japonica and absent in G. bonnieroides .

Further, the presence of a submarginal spine on the posterior margin of the carpus of the male gnathopod 1 is a character that distinguishes G. bonnieroides from the other closely related species (Ledoyer 1967; Myers 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948, Haifa Bay, Israel: A, male; B, mature female; C, immature. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948, Haifa Bay, Israel, male: A, yg male (<2.5 mm) gnathopod 1 (inner face); B, mature male (MZPA-AMPH- 0008 m) (3.3 mm) right gnathopod 1 with detail of anterior margin of carpus without stridulating ridges (inner face); C, same individual, left gnathopod 1 with detail of posterior margin of carpus with submarginal spine (inner face).

FIGURE 5. Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948, Haifa Bay, Israel, male: A, uropod 3; B, gnathopod 1 (outer face); C, gnathopod 1 (inner face). Scale bar = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 6. Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948, Haifa Bay, Israel, male: uropods 3 and telson with detail of distal fine setae.