Deutella californica Mayer, 1890

Paz-Ríos, Carlos E., Guerra-García, José M. & Ardisson, Pedro-Luis, 2014, REVIEW ARTICLE Caprellids (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from the Gulf of Mexico, with observations on Deutella mayeri, redescription of Metaprotella hummelincki, a taxonomic key and zoogeographical comments, Journal of Natural History 48 (41 - 42), pp. 2517-2578 : 2530-2531

Deutella californica Mayer, 1890

Deutella californica Mayer, 1890: 27–28 , pl. 1, figs 3, 4, pl. 3, figs 15, 16, pl. 5, fig. 18. Dougherty and Steinberg, 1953; Steinberg and Dougherty, 1957: 279–281, figs 15, 21–23, 28. McCain, 1968: 54, fig. 52. McCain and Steinberg, 1970; Laubitz, 1970: 16–18, figs 3, 26. Martin, 1977; Ortiz et al., 2002, fig. 28. Guerra-García, 2003b: 1062, fig. 2. Winfield, Escobar-Briones, et al., 2007: 47, fig. 17.

Type locality

Cape Mendocino, California.

Distribution

Northeastern Pacific ( Guerra-García 2003b); Gulf of Mexico ( LeCroy et al. 2009).

Records in the Gulf of Mexico

MEX: Tamaulipas continental shelf ( Escobar-Briones and Winfield 2003); Laguna Madre ( Barba and Sánchez 2005); Bay of Campeche at southwest (Winfield, Escobar-Briones, et al. 2007).

Habitat

Deutella californica has been reported on seagrasses and hydroids with a mainly predatory feeding mode ( Caine 1980); on the hydroid Obelia dichotoma , on the carapace and legs of the sheep crab Loxorhynchus grandis , on algae, bryozoans, compound ascidians, flat fine sand, sandstone, shale bedrock and the tentacular radioles of the polychaete worm Eudistylia polymorpha ( Martin 1977; Guerra- García 2003b). The depth range reported is shallow water extending to 25 m ( Dougherty and Steinberg 1953; LeCroy et al. 2009).

Remarks

According to Guerra-García (2003b) the shape of the gnathopod 2 propodus in males is the best characteristic to differentiate this species from among the remaining species of Deutella . It is characterized by having a propodus nearly rectangular, palmar surface with proximal grasping spine, and a medial poison spine separated from the distal portion by a deep cleft; the palmar and distal portion of the propodus bear long hair-like setae ( Laubitz 1970).

There was one record for D. californica in the Gulf of Mexico (Port Aransas, Texas) by Steinberg and Dougherty (1957), however it was considered doubtful by McCain (1968) and Laubitz (1970). Subsequently, the species was not reported for a long time (46 years) in the Gulf of Mexico. To date this species has only been recorded in the southern region of the Gulf basin. Unfortunately no specimens of this species could be located for comparative purposes. The record in Escobar- Briones and Winfield (2003) is based on one unsexed specimen without illustrations from a bachelor’ s degree thesis (Borja 1998 cited in Escobar-Briones and Winfield 2003) and the current deposition of this specimen is unknown. Likewise, the deposition of specimens in Barba and Sánchez (2005) is unknown (E Barba, pers. comm.). Finally, the first author has inquired in the CNCR (the place where the material of Winfield, Escobar-Briones, et al. 2007 is housed), but there are no voucher specimens of this species deposited there.