Xylophile Ostracoda in the deep sea

Three new species of podocopid ostracoda from hydrothermal vent fields at 9 50'N on the East Pacific Rise

“…This is not unique to Xylocythere but is characteristic of all podocopids with a strongly arched dorsal surface, such as Xestoleberis and Macrocypris (see discussion by Maddocks 1990). He then commented (p. 578):…”

“…rimosa Maddocks and Steineck 1987, Panama Basin;Xylocythere sp. A, Van Harten 1993, 13 o N hydrothermal vent field on East Pacific Rise; X. producta (Colalongo and Pasini, 1980), Pleistocene of Calabria; and seven fossil species reported in open nomenclature by Steineck et al 1990, Upper Oligocene to Holocene.…”

“…and mentioned the presence of additional unspecified, smoothshelled, fragile taxa. His analyses emphasized the taxonomic similarities to wood-island faunas, another trophic oasis in the deep sea (Maddocks and Steineck 1987, Angel 1990, Steineck et al 1990, Van Harten 1999. He illustrated distinctive bacteria encrusting the pore clusters of Xylocythere and suggested a possible function for these pore clusters in facilitating uptake of oxygen or organic solutes.…”

Modern benthic ostracodes from Lutzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica: paleoceanographic, paleobiogeographic, and evolutionary significance

“…Ostracodes have no planktonic larva and several authors have suggested possible vectors of long distance dispersal for deep and shallow water ostracodes, e.g., seaweed-rafting, entrainment in high-energy bottom flows, transport as viable eggs in fish guts, "hitchhiking" on larger vertebrates or invertebrates, active swimming or crawling, and deployment of organic threads to harness currents more effectively (Titterton and Whatley 1988;Steineck et al 1990;Boomer 1999;Dingle 477 Micropaleontology, vol. 53, no.…”

Ostracoda as biostratigraphical indices in Cenozoic deep-sea sequences

“…While all the world's oceans and areas of these oceans have their endemic ostracod faunas, most of the deep-sea Ostracoda are pan-abyssal (Whatley & Ayress, 1988;). Even such specialized ostracod communities as those inhabiting sunken wood on the deep-sea floor seem to be world-wide (Maddocks & Steineck 1987;Steineck et al 1990). This near ubiquity of many deep-sea ostracod genera and species is now an accepted fact and runs counter to earlier (and some later) suggestions that ostracods differed from other deepsea benthos in not being widely distributed (Benson 1975(Benson , 1979Hartmann & Hartmann-Schroeder 1988).…”