Tanaidacea from Brazil: III. new records and description of a new species collected from REVIZEE-NE Program

87 Nauplius 20(2): 87-105, 2012 Tanaidacea from Brazil. III. New records and description of a new species collected from REVIZEE-NE Program Catarina L. Araújo-Silva and Kim Larsen (CLAS, KL) Laboratory for Marine Community Ecology and Evolution, CIIMAR (Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental), University of Porto, Rua dos Bragas, 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal (present address). Capes Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brasília-DF, 70040-020, Brazil. E-mails: (CLAS) (corresponding author); (KL) (CLAS) Laboratório de Carcinologia, Museu de Oceanografia Petrônio Alves Coelho, Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Arquitetura, S/N, 50740-550, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Abstract A new species of Paratanais Dana, 1852, Paratanais coelhoi sp. nov., is described and new records for Paradoxapseudes intermedius (Hansen, 1895), Intermedichelia gracilis Guţu, 1996, Vestigiramus sp., Nototanoides cf. trifurcatus Sieg and Heard, 1985, Biarticulata sp. and Arhaphuroides sp. are provided from northeastern Brazil based on collections from the REVIZEE-NE Program. This raises the number of tanaidacean species from the Brazilian coast from 45 to 49. Paratanais coelhoi sp. nov. shares morphological features such as habitus shape, maxilliped palp setation, and cheliped proportions with P. oculatus (Vanhöffen, 1914), P. martinsi Bamber and Costa, 2009, P. tara Bird, 2011 and P. euelpis Barnard, 1920. The new species can, however, be distinguished by a unique combination of characters including: pleonites 1–4 with lateral circumplumose setae while the 5th with simple seta only; antennule article 1 stout; cheliped propodus with one specialized outer ‘S’-shaped broad seta; pereopod 1 merus length with 1.7 times as long as wide; pereopod 2 merus without ventral spiniform seta; uropodal endopod biarticulate, exopod uniarticulate as well as other characters. Key words: northeastern Brazil, Peracarida, Paratanaidae, Paratanais, Tanaidacean. Introduction While quite a number of taxonomic papers on the Tanaidacea of Brazil have been published (Krøyer, 1842; Mañé-Garzón, 1949; Lang, 1956; Silva-Brum, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978; Băcescu, 1979, 1984, 1986; Masunari and Sieg, 1980; Sieg, 1983; Băcescu and Absalão, 1985; Guţu, 1996, 1998; Larsen, 1999; Santos and Pires-Vanin, 2006; Santos, 2007; Santos and Hansknecht, 2007; Larsen et al., 2009; Araújo-Silva and Larsen, 2012; Santos et al., 2012), most of species are described from southeastern Brazilian waters or deep-sea habitats. Among 45 species recorded from Brazil, only eleven were published from northeastern coast (Guţu, 1998 ; AraújoSilva and Larsen, 2012): Intermedichelia jesseri Araújo-Silva and Larsen, 2012, Leptochelia dubia (Krøyer, 1842), L. forresti (Stebbing, 88 Araújo-Silva and Larsen: New records and description of Tanaidacea from Brazil 1896), Makraleptochelia potiguara AraújoSilva and Larsen, 2012, Neotanais tricarinatus Gardiner, 1975, Parapagurapseudopsis carinatus Silva-Brum, 1973, Parapseudes inermis (SilvaBrum, 1973), Paratanais oculatus (Vanhöffen, 1914), Psammokalliapseudes granulosus SilvaBrum, 1973, Saltipedis (Saltipedis) paulensis (Silva-Brum, 1971) and Zeuxo (Parazeuxo) coralensis Sieg, 1980a. It is unlikely that so little tanaidacean diversity is present in this area, since the northeastern coast represents at least one-third of the entire Brazilian coast. Moreover, tropical environments usually display higher biodiversity than at higher latitudes (Rapoport, 1982), suggesting that the lack of records, are more likely correlated to sampling effort. At the end of the twentieth century (1995–2000) the REVIZEE Program (Programa de Avaliação do Potencial Sustentável dos Recursos Vivos da Zona Econômica e Exclusiva do Brasil), a survey of the fauna and flora of the exclusive economic zone of the coast of Brazil, was conducted. During this program, collections were made on northeastern coast (NE Score) along the continental shelf and oceanic banks of the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and North Chain Banks of Brazil. These collections revealed a number of members of several of tanaidacean families, including the Apseudidae Leach, 1814; Leptocheliidae Lang, 1973; Leptognathiidae Sieg, 1976; Metapseudidae Lang, 1970; Nototanaidae Sieg, 1976; Paratanaidae Lang, 1949 and Tanaellidae Larsen and Wilson, 2002. The family Paratanaidae currently contains five genera and occurs in both deep (Bathytanais Beddard, 1886 and Pseudobathytanais Kudinova-Pasternak, 1990) and shallow waters (Bathytanais; Paratanais Dana, 1852; Triparatanais Bamber and Chatterjee, 2010; Xeplenois Bamber, 2005), but the majority of species are from shallow water. Bird and Larsen (2009) regarded Paratanaidae as one of the few monophyletic families that has remained stable since its establishment and probably the only one that is not controversial. The genus Teleotanais Lang, 1956 was assigned by Bamber (2008) to a new subfamily principally on the basis of 1–4 circumplumose epimeral pleonal setae; however, this genus is unlike any paratanaid and appears more leptocheliid-like, and it was raised to familylevel by Bird and Larsen (2009). The main diagnostic characters of the family Paratanaidae are the presence of maxilliped endites laterally expanded and wider than basis; pereopod 4–6 carpus with clinging apparatus present as strong spiniform setae and scales (complex or not) but without microtrichial field; pleonites 1–5 (or 1–4) with lateral circumplumose setae (Bird and Larsen, 2009: 155), as well as other characters. Even though these characters seem to be consistent, Sieg (1986: 57) stated that the systematic of the genus Paratanais is quite confusing, and that a revision was required. Such a revision is currently under way (G.J. Bird, pers. comm.). The genus Paratanais is represented on the Brazilian coast by P. oculatus and was first recorded by Silva-Brum (1973: 4–5) from Bahia (northeastern Brazil) but this identification is uncertain (see remarks of P. coelhoi sp. nov.). In this study, a new species of Paratanais is described and new records are provided for Nototanoides cf. trifurcatus Sieg and Heard, 1985, Biarticulata sp., Arhaphuroides sp., Paradoxapseudes intermedius (Hansen, 1895), Intermedichelia gracilis Guţu, 1996 and Vestigiramus sp., thus increasing the number of tanaidacean species known from the Brazilian coast from 45 to 49. This is the third study on the systematics of the Tanaidacea from Brazil and the first of a series of papers based on the REVIZEE-NE Program collection from the northeastern part of Brazil. Material and Methods Specimens were collected from the continental shelf between the mouth of Parnaíba River (Piauí state) and Salvador (Bahia state) during the expeditions Northeast Score I, II, III and IV (NE I, II, III and IV) (1995–2000); these collections were funded by Nauplius 20(2): 87-105, 2012 the Brazilian Government and conducted from the RV ‘ (...truncated)