New and little known species of Lepechinella (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Lepechinellidae) and an allied new genus Lepesubchela from the North Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract. New species of Lepechinella, L. norvegica sp. nov. and L. victoriae sp. nov., from the North East Atlantic are described together with the new, closely related genus and species Lepesubchela christinae gen. et sp. nov. Lepechinella arctica Schellenberg, 1926 from north of Spitsbergen and Lepechinella schellenbergi Stephensen, 1944 from Greenland are redescribed. A key to the species of Atlantic and Arctic Lepechinella is provided. Descriptions of taxonomic characters from related species in the Atlantic and Arctic are discussed.

Diversity and distribution of North Atlantic Lepechinellidae (Amphipoda: Crustacea)

“…Family lepechinellidae Schellenberg, 1926Dorbanellidae Schellenberg, 1925: 205. Lepechinellidae Schellenberg, 1926Barnard, 1932: 186;Dahl, 1959: 235;Andres & Brandt, 2001: 79;Sittrop & Serejo, 2009: 474;Johansen & Vader, 2015: 3. Lepechinellinae Bousfield & Kendall, 1994Lowry & Myers, 2017: 57. Type genus: Lepechinella Stebbing, 1908, by original designation.…”

“…Prior to this study, most historic studies of Lepechinellidae had encountered specimens from only one or two trawl events per sea area (Barnard, 1973;Thurston, 1980;Sittrop & Serejo, 2009;Johansen & Vader, 2015). However, during two IceAGE expeditions, lepechinellids were collected in large numbers at ten stations, which constituted a quarter of all stations studied (Brix et al, 2018).…”

“…The family Lepechinellidae Schellenberg, 1926 is typified by elongate, slender pereopods and uropods with a body cuticle covered in long setae, and the placement of this taxa at family level was recently covered by Thurston & Horton (2019). There are currently five genera of Lepechinellidae (Horton et al, 2018), three of which (Lepechinella Stebbing, 1908;Lepechinelloides Thurston, 1980;Lepesubchela Johansen & Vader, 2015) have been reported in the North Atlantic (Thurston, 1980;Palerud & Vader, 1991;Johansen & Vader, 2015;Brix et al, 2018). The two remaining genera, Lepechinellopsis Ledoyer, 1982 andParalephechinella Pirlot, 1933, are known from Madagascar and from the Equator to the Antarctic, respectively (Pirlot, 1934;Andres & Brandt, 2001).…”

“…The two remaining genera, Lepechinellopsis Ledoyer, 1982 andParalephechinella Pirlot, 1933, are known from Madagascar and from the Equator to the Antarctic, respectively (Pirlot, 1934;Andres & Brandt, 2001). Of the 11 species of Lepechinellidae reported from the North Atlantic, the most species-rich genus in the area is Lepechinella with nine species, while the two remaining genera, Lepechinelloides and Lepesubchela, are represented each by single species there (Johansen & Vader, 2015).…”

Amphipod family distributions around Iceland

“…The lepechinellids are well adapted to a demersal or epibenthic lifestyle on soft substrates in deeper waters (Barnard 1973). The family Lepechinellidae comprises five genera, three of which ( Lepechinella ; Lepechinelloides ; Lepesubchela ) have been reported in our study area (Thurston 1980, Palerud and Vader 1991, Johansen and Vader 2015). The genus Lepechinella was the most speciose and abundant taxon in the IceAGE samples.…”