Re-description of Strandesia sanoamuangae Savatenalinton & Martens, 2010 and description of a new species of Strandesia (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from Grande Terre, New Caledonia

Abstract

The New Caledonian Archipelago is a hot spot for biodiversity and endemism. Whereas popular groups such as birds and plants are well-studied, invertebrate groups such as ostracods remain ill-known. Here, we re-describe Strandesia sanoamuangae Savatenalinton & Martens, 2010, originally described from Thailand (8000 km away from New Caledonia), and describe Strandesia mehesi sp. nov. Both species are known only from females. Material for the present study was collected from diverse aquatic non-marine habitats from Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. Whereas S. sanoamuangae is seemingly easily identifiable, S. mehesi sp. nov. is part of the Strandesia vinceguerrae/vavrai species cluster in the genus, of which the ‘older’ species (described long ago) often have incomplete and superficial descriptions. Differentiation between the new species and the other members of this species cluster are based on small anatomical details of the valves. The current paper updates the known number of recent freshwater Ostracoda of New Caledonia from 14 to 16 species, although at least five of these species have an uncertain status.

Two new species of Strandesia Stuhlmann, 1888 (Crustacea: Ostracoda) from Thailand, with first record of a male S. martensi Savatenalinton, 2015

“…Müller, 1912, Bradleycypris McKenzie, 1982, Bradleystrandesia Broodbakker, 1983, Bradleytriebella Savatenalinton & Martens, 2009, Cypricercus Sars, 1895, Diaphanocypris Würdig & Pinto, 1990, Nealecypris Savatenalinton & Martens, 2009, Neostrandesia Ferreira et al, 2019, Pseudostrandesia Savatenalinton & Martens, 2009, Spirocypris Sharpe, 1903, Strandesia Stuhlmann, 1888and Tanycypris Triebel, 1959(Meisch et al 2019Ferreira et al 2019). Among these, Strandesia is proportionally the most speciose with 102 species (Meisch et al 2019;Ferreira et al 2019;Kisseih et al 2020;Savatenalinton 2021). Moreover, Strandesia is the second most diverse genus in Cypridoidea, after Candona (Meisch et al 2019).…”

“…75.5% of the total species number (Meisch et al 2019). Within this superfamily, 168 species belong to the subfamily Cypricercinae McKenzie, 1971 of the family Cyprididae Baird, 1845 (Meisch et al 2019;Ferreira et al 2020;Kisseih et al 2020;Savatenalinton 2021). Representatives of Cypricercinae can be primarily recognized by the presence of Triebel's loop on the caudal ramus attachment which is a unique character of the subfamily (see Martens 1994;Horne et al 2019).…”