Vibilia cultripes Vosseler, 1901

Zeidler, Wolfgang, 2003, A review of the hyperiidean amphipod superfamily Vibilioidea Bowman and Gruner, 1973 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyperiidea), Zootaxa 280 (1), pp. 1-104 : 51-54

Vibilia cultripes Vosseler ( Figs 22 & 23 )

Vibilia cultripes Vosseler, 1901: 121–123 , pl. 11, figs 6–18. — Behning & Woltereck 1912: 5. Behning 1913a: 529, 533. Behning 1913b: 222. Chevreux 1913: 16. Stephensen 1918: 53–55, fig. 18, chart 7. Behning 1925: 495–496, figs 63–67. Chevreux & Fage 1925: 388–389, fig. 392. Behning 1927: 119–120, 121 (Table). Pirlot 1929: 99–100. Barnard 1932: 265. Chevreux 1935: 172–173. Shoemaker 1945: 234, fig. 33. Siegfried 1963: 8. Dick 1970: 52. Yoo 1971: 50. Semenova 1973: 174. Brusca 1981a: 17 (key), 39, fig. 4f, 4k. Vinogradov et al. 1982: 228–230, fig. 113. Young & Anderson 1987: 716 (Table). Barkhatov & Vinogradov 1988: 168 (Table), 173. Vinogradov 1990a: 56, 93 (Table). Zeidler 1992: 95–96, fig. 8. Vinogradov 1993: 43 (Table). Shih & Chen 1995: 51–52, fig. 27. Barkhatov et al. 1999: 808 (Table). Vinogradov 1999: 1179, fig. 4.83.

Type material

The type of V. cultripes could not be found at the ZMB or ZMH and is considered lost. Fortunately this is a very distinctive species adequately characterised by Vosseler’s (1901) figures and description. The type locality is the Atlantic Ocean, southern equatorial current, 0–400 m (J. N. 213), 5.3ºS, 37.6ºW.

Material examined (> 150 specimens)

Tasman Sea: 1 lot ( AM), 1 specimen. North Atlantic : 4 lots ( BMNH) , 6 lots ( USNM), 7 lots ( ZMB), 13 lots ( ZMUC), numerous specimens. South Atlantic: 2 lots ( BMNH), 3 specimens. North Pacific : 12 lots ( LACM) , 5 lots ( USNM), 44 specimens. Indian : 10 lots ( ZMB) , several specimens. Mediterranean : 38 lots ( ZMUC) , numerous specimens. Central Indo­Pacific : 2 lots ( USNM), 2 specimens .

Diagnosis

Body length up to 19 mm, but usually 12–15 mm. Antennae 1 as long as head and first pereonite; flagellum oval, distal margin rounded. Gnathopod 2; carpal process about 0.7x length of propodus. Pereopods 3–6; dactylus length about 0.2x propodus. Pereopod 7; basis rectangular, width about 0.7x length, slightly longer than ischium to carpus combined, with slight posterodistal lobe barely overlapping ischium; carpus and propodus with distinct, rounded anterodistal process; dactylus pointed with knife­like anterior margin. Lateral corners of last urosomite produced, partly overlapping peduncle of U3. Uropod 3; peduncle about as long as endopod; endopod slightly longer than exopod in females, in males the endopod is up to one­third longer than the exopod, having almost parallel margins and two widely spaced teeth on the terminal margin. Telson rounded, almost circular, length about 0.7x as long as, but only extending to middle, of peduncle of U3.

Remarks

This is one of the larger species of Vibilia only exceeded in size by V. robusta . It most closely resembles V. longicarpus , but is distinguished from it by the relatively shorter carpal process of gnathopod 2, the distinctive anterodistal process of the carpus and propodus of pereopod 7, and by the presence of two terminal teeth on the endopod of uropod 3 (absent in V. longicarpus ); particularly evident in males.

The salp associate has not been recorded for this species.

Distribution

This is a relatively uncommon species widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions, particularly in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

Figures

FIGURE 22. Vibilia cultripes, NE Pacific, SAMA C6052 (m), C6053 (f). Male, 14.0 mm; female, 13.1 mm. A, male 14.0 mm, lateral view; B, female 13.1 mm, lateral view of head; appendages from male except Us­f. Scale bars = 1.0 mm (A, B), 0.5 mm (Us), 0.2 mm (A1 & 2, Mxp).

FIGURE 23. Vibilia cultripes, NE Pacific, SAMA C6052. Male, 14.0 mm. Scale bar = 0.5 mm.