The diversity of acorn barnacles (Cirripedia, Balanomorpha) across Thailand’s coasts: The Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand

Abstract

The acorn barnacle is a sessile crustacean, inhabiting the intertidal areas of tropical and temperate regions worldwide. According to current practices on Cirripedia morphology, shell, opercular valves, and arthropodal characters including cirri and mouthparts are used as a tool for taxonomic classification, and using these characteristics the present study aimed to provide better resolution for the barnacle diversity and geographical distribution within coastlines of Thailand: the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

An annotated checklist and integrative biodiversity discovery of barnacles (Crustacea, Cirripedia) from the Moluccas, East Indonesia

“…Distribution. Euraphia hembeli has been recorded from the Mediterranean, West Africa, Indian Ocean: Ceylon; Andaman Sea, Cocos-Keeling Islands; Malay Archipelago (Sunda Islands); Pacific Ocean (Japan; Caroline Islands; Hawaiian Islands, California (Newman and Ross 1976;Jones 2012; Barrett and Freeman 2016;Pochai et al 2017). In this study, Euraphia hembeli was found on Ambon Island at Asilulu on rocks (a map with the occurrence of Euraphia hembeli in the Moluccas is shown in Suppl.…”

“…Euraphia hembeli has a true calcareous basis and complete secondary calcification on its parietal wall and basis (Southward et al 1998). It can be also distinguished from other species of the genus Euraphia by its size (up to 30 mm) and the presence of strong marked lateral depressor crests (between 10-12 in number) (Pochai et al 2017).…”

“…They have a worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate marine environments and at different depths and are adjusted to various lifestyles, from parasites of decapod crustaceans to free-living groups. Most cirripeds usually have two free-swimming planktonic larval stages consisting of distinctive nauplii and a unique non-feeding cyprid (Darwin 1852(Darwin , 1854Pochai et al 2017). In the most abundant group, the Thoracica, adult specimens are permanently attached to various types of substrates, other living organisms (e.g., mangroves, corals, molluscs, other barnacles, sponges), rocks, and man-made materials such as cargo ships and concrete walls (Newman and Abbott 1980;Power et al 2010).…”

Morphological and molecular evidence support the intertidal barnacle Octomeris intermedia Nilsson-Cantell, 1921 (Thoracica, Chthamalidae) as a valid species in Indo-Pacific waters

“…The distribution of intertidal barnacles is different between the coastline in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea (Pochai et al 2017): the Andaman side has a higher species diversity (nine total species in Andaman side and six in the Gulf of Thailand). Octomeris was not reported by Pochai et al (2017) or Sukparangsi et al (2019). The record of O. intermedia in the present study brings the number of Thai intertidal barnacle species to 12.…”

“…Intertidal barnacle diversity in Thailand received very little attention until the recent studies of Pochai et al (2017) and Sukparangsi et al (2019), who conducted detailed surveys of Thai intertidal barnacles and recorded a total of eleven species from the Thai coastline. The distribution of intertidal barnacles is different between the coastline in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea (Pochai et al 2017): the Andaman side has a higher species diversity (nine total species in Andaman side and six in the Gulf of Thailand). Octomeris was not reported by Pochai et al (2017) or Sukparangsi et al (2019).…”