Cirolana Leach, 1818

Bruce, Niel L. & Brandt, Angelika, 2006, A new species of Cirolana Leach, 1818 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cirolanidae) from the western Ross Sea, Antarctica, the first record of the genus from polar waters, Zoosystema 28 (2), pp. 315-324 : 317

Genus Cirolana Leach, 1818

REMARKS

The genus Cirolana , with 100 described species, is the largest in the family Cirolanidae ( Bruce 1986; Brusca et al. 1995; Bruce et al. 2002). It is known world-wide, having previously been recorded from all oceans except the Southern Ocean and polar waters. The genus occurs primarily in the shallow waters of the intertidal and on the shallow continental shelf, with only three species reliably recorded at depths greater than 1000 m (these being Cirolana australis Keable, 2001 , C. bisulcata Hobbins & Jones, 1993 and C. epimerias Richardson, 1910 ). With the exception of C. bougaardti Kensley, 1984 and Cirolana stebbingi Nierstrasz, 1931 (both regarded as incertae sedis by Bruce 1986), all other species have been recorded at depths of less that 200 m. The genus has hitherto not been recorded from polar waters, or from latitudes greater than about 44°S and 54°N. The recent discovery of a new species of Cirolana in the Ross Sea at latitudes of 71° to 72°S is therefore a substantial extension of the known geographic distribution of the genus.

The species conforms with the generic diagnoses given by Bruce (1986), Brusca et al. (1995), and Kensley & Schotte (1989).