Paratanais oculatus ( Vanhöffen, 1914 )

BIRD, GRAHAM J. & BAMBER, ROGER N., 2013, New littoral, shelf, and bathyal Paratanaidae (Crustacea: Peracarida: Tanaidacea) from New Zealand, with descriptions of three new genera, Zootaxa 3676 (1), pp. 1-71 : 43

Paratanais oculatus ( Vanhöffen, 1914)

Leptognathia oculata: Vanhöffen (1914) : 477, fig. 13; Hale (1937): 11; Lang (1953): 417.

Acanthotanais oculatus: Kussakin (1966) : 226–227, fig.63.

Acanthotanais oculata: Silva-Brum (1973) : 4 –5, figs 4–15 (doubtfully P. oculatus s.str.).

Paratanais oculatus: Lang (1973) : 219; Shiino (1978): 68 –73, figs 38–40; Sieg (1986b): 57, 58 (fig.32); Schmidt (1999): 29, 45, 54, 63, fig. 3.6; Schmidt & Brandt (2001): 422, 423, 425.

Material examined. One non-ovigerous ♀ (4.45 mm), NIWA 13807 , Stn D. 148, 90 km NE of Auckland Islands, 146 m, 49.7800°S, 167.0417°E, 14 January 1964, medium Agassiz Trawl, HMNZS Endeavour Oceanographic Cruise, ‘Macquarie Gap’ .

Remarks. This relatively large and robust (but damaged) specimen has several visible characters of P. oculatus sensu Shiino (1978) , namely a very slender and arcuate pereopod-1 basis and slender uropods. The record, with its earlier registered identification by J. Sieg, is from near the Subantarctic Auckland Islands, within the West Wind Drift, so it is possible that it is the same species as that found in the Kerguelen Islands, which are within the same oceanic circulation system. Additional material from the locality would be required to confirm its conspecificity. The ostensible distribution of P. oculatus includes the Kerguelen Islands ( Vanhöffen 1914; Kussakin 1966; Shiino 1978), Macquarie Island ( Hale 1937), the Brazilian coast ( Silva-Brum 1973), and the Magellanic Falkland Islands ( Lang 1953), Tierra del Fuego, Beagle Channel, and the Isla de los Estados ( Sieg 1986b; Schmidt 1999; Schmidt & Brandt 2001;), at depths 0–903 m (the first actually 771–903 m, Sieg op.cit: 57).