To contribute to the taxonomic knowledge of barnacles in this understudied area, the first checklist of barnacles from the Moluccas is presented, including additional information on morphology, distribution, and substrate as well as molecular data. The species of barnacles from the Moluccas have been determined using morphological analysis and DNA sequences. During 19 field trips conducted between January 2016 and September 2017, 1,513 specimens of 24 species of intertidal and one species of deep-sea barnacles were collected from 51 localities from the islands. Morphological and molecular analysis of the collected material detected members of three families of stalked barnacles and four families of acorn barnacles. In addition to sampling in the field, we also surveyed the literature on barnacles from the Moluccas. In total, our checklist comprises 97 species from the Moluccas including 23 new records, two of them yet to be described species. Results suggest that the Moluccas have a much higher diversity of barnacles than previously known, for example, from the reports of Challenger and Siboga expeditions. For further work, routine application of molecular systematics could aid the detection of cryptic species, while increased sampling of more islands and a taxonomic revision of several groups would likely lead to an even higher number of species than currently known.
The physical and hydrodynamic conditions in the Banda and Northern Arafura Seas (BAS) during northwest monsoon (February 2014) were investigated using a three-dimensional baroclinic nonlinear numerical model—the Hamburg Shelf Ocean Model (HAMSOM). This study found that northwesterly winds induced eastward surface currents that transported relatively fresh water from the Flores Sea to the Arafura Sea via the Banda Sea. It was also found that the westerly surface currents carried relatively cold water induced by upwelling along the northern coast of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Furthermore, the simulation results revealed that relatively saline surface water from the Indian Ocean intruding through the Ombai Strait and Timor Passage contributed to the surface water of the Eastern Banda Sea and Aru Basin being more saline than the surrounding water. Part of the surface water sank as a result of downwelling in the Arafura Sea. The BAS had higher salinity than the Makassar Strait at a depth of 75 –300m. The simulation results suggested that the higher salinity was due to the influence of the South Pacific Subtropical Water (SPSW) that entered the Indonesian Seas primarily through the Halmahera Sea.
Due to COVID-19, many scientists have to work remotely and have limited access to physical reference collections. This situation has highlighted that providing online digital content is considered one of the most effective solutions. To make materials of reference collection more accessible to scientists or researchers, we here report the Rumphius expeditions (1973 – 1980) materials to Indonesia that still remain at the Ambon Research Station or now become reference collection of Centre for Deep-Sea Research, LIPI-Ambon, Indonesia. The morphological analyses of fish, crustacea, and mollusc collected during the Rumphius expeditions revealed: 34 species from 23 different genera of fish; 21 species from 19 different genera of crustacea; and 60 species from 42 different genera of mollusc. This study demonstrates the value of reference collections as a resource in marine biology science and the important role of archivists in this current pandemic situation.
An examination of the deep-sea barnacles (Cirripedia, Thoracica) collected by the Karubar expedition to Indonesia (1991) and deposited in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, identified 40 species contained in three families of stalked and five families of acorn barnacles. Information on these species is presented, including descriptions, updated distributions and images to aid species identification. Thirty of the species, treated herein, are new records for the Indonesian Kei Islands and Tanimbar Island, which increases the total number of species recorded from Kei Islands, Aru Island and Tanimbar Island to 40. This study demonstrates the value of museum collections as a resource in biodiversity science.
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