Pseudaeginella biscaynensis (McCain, 1968)

Guerra-García, J. M., 2006, Caprellidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from the Great Barrier Reef and Adjacent Localities, Records of the Australian Museum 58, pp. 417-458 : 448-452

publication ID	2201-4349
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scientific name	Pseudaeginella biscaynensis (McCain, 1968)
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Pseudaeginella biscaynensis (McCain, 1968) View in CoL

Fig. 54

Fallotritella biscaynensis McCain, 1968: 58–61 , figs. 27–28, 53.—McCain & Steinberg, 1970: 51.—Gable & Lazo-Wasem, 1987: 637–638.

Pseudaeginella biscaynensis View in CoL .—Laubitz, 1995: 88.

Type material. HOLOTYPE 3, USNM 120179, Bear Cut, Key Biscayne , Florida, 2 m. Allotype female, USNM 120180, type locality. PARATYPES: 633, USNM 120183–186, 120188, type locality; 3♀♀, USNM 120182, 120187, type locality.

Additional material examined. 13, AM P61620 ( QLD 680 ); 13, AM P61621 ( QLD 734 ); 1♀, AM P61623 ( QLD 759 ); 233, AM P61622 ( QLD 760 ); 333, 1♀, AM P61583 (st 21) ; 13, 1♀, AM P61584 (st 36) ; 333, 6♀♀, 4 juveniles, AM P61585 (st 14) ; 13, AM P61586 (st 8) ; 13, AM P61689 (BK-114) ; 1 premature female, AM P61688 (BK- 126) ; 1 premature female, AM P61690 ( QLD 1476 ) .

Remarks. Recently, Laubitz (1995) considered Fallotritella to be synonymous with Pseudaeginella , based mainly on the presence of minute pereopods 3 and 4 also in Pseudaeginella . Consequently, P. biscaynensis , P. montouchetti and P. polynesica , previously placed in Fallotritella , were transferred to Pseudaeginella . The Queensland specimens agree with the type material from Florida, apart from differences in body projections and pereopod 5. The specimens from Queensland have a more robust pereopod 5 and are considerably less spinose than the type specimens. Nevertheless, the type material shows a considerable degree of morphological variability and consequently the present specimens of Pseudaeginella are assigned to P. biscaynensis . Pseudaeginella biscaynensis , known from the Florida coast and vicinity, has also been recently recorded in the Indian Ocean (Guerra-García, 2002b). Hence, the species is probably cosmopolitan but

Guerra-García: caprellid amphipods of the Great Barrier Reef 449 the general paucity of worldwide records probably owes to its small body size and usual detritus covering. Nevertheless, it remains that P. biscaynensis may prove to be a species complex. This problem is rather common in the Caprellidae (e.g., Caprella penantis , Caprella scaura , Metaprotella sandalensis ). Further study of these species is required.

Distribution. Bear Cut, Key Biscayne, Florida; Bermuda; Soldier Key, Key Largo and Long Key, Florida; Tortugas; Barbuda; Pigem Island, Santa Lucia (McCain, 1968; Gable & Lazo-Wasem, 1987); Tanzania (Guerra-García, 2002b); and Papua New Guinea (Guerra-García, 2003); a new record for Australia.

Field study at Lizard Island

Habitat use. The semi-qualitative abundance of caprellids found at Lizard Island in each habitat is summarized in Table 1. The caprellids, although present in the majority of the samples collected, were not abundant in coral habitats of Lizard Island. Only the hydroids and the sediments presented high values of richness and abundances of the Caprellidae .

Metaprotella sandalensis and Quadrisegmentum triangulum were the most common species around the Island, being present in the majority of substrates on both hard and soft bottoms. Conversely, the majority of the species were found only in specific habitats. Pseudaeginella biscaynensis , Hemiaegina minuta , Orthoprotella mayeri , and Orthoprotella pearce n.sp. were found only on hydroids. Metaproto novaehollandiae , Perotripus keablei n.sp., Protogeton inflatus and Pseudoprellicana johnsoni were restricted to sediments and/or coral rubble. Aciconula australiensis , Pseudoproto fallax and Jigurru vailhoggett were found clinging to the algal turf growing on dead hard corals. The cluster analysis based on the habitat use showed different groups of species ( Fig. 55).

Recently Guerra-García (2001) conducted a similar ecological study in Ceuta, North Africa, a temperate enclave in the Strait of Gibraltar. With a coastline of about 20 km, Ceuta is approximately the same size as Lizard Island. The benthic communities around Ceuta, as of a typical temperate region, are dominated by algae beds in the shallow waters (instead of corals, which are dominant in the tropics) and hydroids, gorgonians, sponges and ascidians in the deeper areas (see Guerra-García, 2001). Guerra-García (2001) collected samples of different substrates along the coast of Ceuta (algae, hydroids, sponges, gorgonians, bryozoans, ascidians and sediments). A summary of the data is given in Table 2. Comparison of data from Ceuta with that of Lizard Island indicates that the number of species is similar in both regions (22 species in Ceuta, 16 species in Lizard Island). Nevertheless, in spite of similar species richness, there are important differences in the caprellid community between the two localities: (a) at Ceuta the species are distributed in only 5 genera with most in Caprella , whereas at Lizard Island 13 genera are represented, none of which belong to Caprella ; (b) although caprellids are frequent in both areas, the abundance values are clearly higher at Ceuta than at Lizard Island; (c) the highest species richness and abundance of caprellids was found on algae and hydroids at Ceuta whereas caprellids are practically absent on the algae from Lizard Island. Although the algae species differ between temperate and tropical regions, species with similar morphology are found in both places. In spite of collecting 45 algal samples comprising 20 species around Lizard Island, only two caprellid species were found: Mayericaprella sandalensis and Q. triangulum , being the most common species found on all substrates along the coral reef system. The reason for this distribution is not clear. The different degree of algae cover in both systems might be involved: the algae cover is much higher in temperate than tropical regions, which are instead dominated by corals. Nevertheless, the hydroid cover is not so high on coral reefs, although the hydroids registered the highest species richness and abundance of the Caprellidae . Perhaps the activity of predators could be significantly different. Caprellids are considered important prey for many fish species (Caine, 1987, 1989, 1991) and the abundance of fishes in tropical areas is high. Taking into account that many of the coral reef hydroids are stinging species, it would be possible that the caprellids use hydroid habitats as a protection instead of using algae where they are potentially less protected from fish predators. This could explain the general low abundance of caprellids on coral reefs but the specific higher abundances registered on the stinging hydroids. Future studies are necessary to elucidate ecological patterns and habitat preferences of the Caprellidae along the coral reef systems of tropical areas.

Distribution of the Caprellidae around Lizard Island. Guerra-García & García-Gómez (2001) showed that the caprellid community at Ceuta could be used as a bioindicator of environmental conditions because the distribution of caprellids is highly influenced by physico-chemical factors such as hydrodynamics. In the present study, using multivariate analysis, when comparing the caprellid fauna in the different sites around the island (Table 3), found no clear differences between the west and the east coast ( Fig. 56). Although MDS seems to separate the two groups of Table 2. Species composition of the Caprellidae from Ceuta, northern Africa (temperate region). The qualitative values of abundance of caprellids in the different habitats are included. Qualitative scale: white, absent; rare (1–10 individuals/sample); common (10– 100 ind/sample); very common (>100 ind/sample). Information taken from Guerra-García (2001). sediment algae sponges hydroids

gorgonians bryozoans ascidians biodetritic coarse shelly fine sediment

stations according to the caprellid composition, this ordination is not clear in the dendrogram of the Cluster analysis ( Fig. 56).

These results could indicate that environmental conditions such as hydrodynamics, silting, and suspended organic matter in the water column are not radically different on both sides of the Island as one might expect from the exposure to the strong winds from the southeast from mid- March to September each year.Although some current speed measurements are given by Leis (1986), a complete study of the environmental conditions of the shallow waters around the Island would be necessary to test whether or not the physico-chemical differences between the west and east coasts are significant.

2) in base of the caprellid composition.

Table 3. Species compositions of the Caprellidae in the 13 stations sampled on SCUBA at Lizard Island and used for the multivariate analysis of ordenation and classification ( Fig. 55). (, presence; °, absence).

Aciconula australiensis ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Hemiaegina minuta ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Jigurru vailhoggett ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Metaprotella sandalensis ° ° Metaproto novaehollandiae ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Orthoprotella australis ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Orthoprotella mayeri ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Orthoprotella pearce ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Perotripus keablei ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Protella similis ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Protogeton inflatus ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Pseudaeginella biscaynensis ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Pseudoprellicana johnsoni ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Pseudoproto fallax ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Quadrisegmentum lowryi ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° Quadrisegmentum triangulum ° ° ° °

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. I am very grateful to P.B. Berents, Australian Museum, for making collections available for study and for her kindness and hospitality during my stay at the Australian Museum. I would especially like to thank S.J. Keable, Australian Museum, for his help, encouragement, advice and friendship during my stay at the Australian Museum and for his valuable assistance during the sampling at Lizard Island; this work is dedicated to him. I thank Anne Hoggett and Lyle Vail, directors of the Lizard Island Research Station (LIRS), and Marianne and Lance Pearce, LIRS accommodation and maintenance officers, for their hospitality, help and facilities provided during the fieldwork at LIRS. Thanks to R. Johnson, Australian Museum, for patiently registering the material in the collections of the AM and for his help and friendship during my stay in the Australian Museum. I also thank J. Short and P. Davie for the loan of the unidentified material from Queensland Museum. Thanks to E. Nelson (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution), J. Olesen (Zoological Museum, Copenhagen) and D. Platvoet (Zoologisch Museum, Amsterdam) for the loan of type specimens. I am very grateful to S. Ahyong, Australian Museum, for his valuable comments to a preliminary version of the manuscript. The stay at the Australian Museum was supported by a grant AP 98 28617065 from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport from Spain and the field study at Lizard Island by a Visiting Collection Fellowship from the Australian Museum.