Bairdoppilata, Coryell, Sample and Jennings, 1935

Maddocks, Rosalie F. & Horne, David J., 2024, “ What’s in a name? ” Bairdia fasciata Brady, 1870, and two new Caribbean species of Bairdoppilata (Bairdiidae, Podocopida, Ostracoda), Zootaxa 5448 (3), pp. 371-400 : 391

Genus Bairdoppilata in Caribbean assemblages

Shallow-water beach, lagoonal, near-reef, and carbonate-platform assemblages of the northern and central Caribbean are dominated by species of Bairdiidae , especially Neonesidea and Paranesidea . Krutak and Gío-Argáez (1994) reported that four of the six dominant species in subfossil assemblages of the northeastern shelf of the Yucatan peninsula were Bairdiidae , of which the three most abundant species accounted for 58% of the total ostracod fauna [ Paranesidea gigacantha ( Kornicker,1961) , Paranesidea cancunensis Krutak and Gío-Argáez,1994 , and Neonesidea longisetosa ( Brady, 1902) ]. Such high proportions of Bairdiidae are characteristic of coarse-grained sediments near coral reefs and washings of coralline rubble, which are dominated by robust species of Neonesidea and Paranesidea . Finer-grained sandy sediments from sheltered beaches and bays with sea-grass beds and calcareous algae are more productive, with higher species diversity and equitability, both for Bairdiidae and for other Ostracoda.

The Genus Bairdoppilata is less dominant than Neonesidea and Paranesidea in local assemblages, but it is as widely distributed throughout the Caribbean. The most ubiquitous species of Bairdoppilata is Ba. cushmani ( Tressler, 1949) , which is typically the third or fourth most abundant bairdiid species in shallow-water subfossil assemblages ( Maddocks 2022). By comparison, Ba. magnafasciata n. sp. and Ba. parvafasciata n. sp. are less populous, though as widely dispersed.

Additional species of Bairdoppilata occur in the Caribbean assemblages examined, some of which are poorly understood. They will form the subject of a future report. Together with other new and poorly understood species, both smooth and ornate, they illustrate the extraordinary diversity of Neotropical Bairdiidae .