Evidence of cryptic and pseudocryptic speciation in the Paracalanus parvus species complex (Crustacea, Copepoda, Calanoida), supplementary material

Introduction Many marine planktonic crustaceans such as copepods have been considered as widespread organisms. However, the growing evidence for cryptic and pseudo-cryptic speciation has emphasized the need of re-evaluating the status of copepod species complexes in molecular and morphological studies to get a clearer picture about pelagic marine species as evolutionary units and their distributions. This study analyses the molecular diversity of the ecologically important Paracalanus parvus species complex. Its seven currently recognized species are abundant and also often dominant in marine coastal regions worldwide from temperate to tropical oceans. Results COI and Cytochrome b sequences of 160 specimens of the Paracalanus parvus complex from all oceans were obtained. Furthermore, 42 COI sequences from GenBank were added for the genetic analyses. Thirteen distinct molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU) and two single sequences were revealed with cladistic analyses (Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Inference), of which seven were identical with results from species delimitation methods (barcode gaps, ABDG, GMYC, Rosenberg's P(AB)). In total, 10 to 12 putative species were detected and could be placed in three categories: (1) temperate geographically isolated, (2) warm-temperate to tropical wider spread and (3) circumglobal warm-water species. Conclusions The present study provides evidence of cryptic or pseudocryptic speciation in the Paracalanus parvus complex. One major insight is that the species Paracalanus parvus s.s. is not panmictic, but may be restricted in its distribution to the northeastern Atlantic.

Distribution of euphausiids (Crustacea) at the Great Meteor seamount, Atlantic Ocean

In the course of the voyages 9a and 9c (1967) and 19 (1970) of the RV "Meteor" samples of plankton and neuston have been taken in the area of the Great Meteor Seamount. The euphausiids of this material have been examined quantitatively as well as qualitatively in order to study the influence of the Great and Small Meteor Seamount on a vertically migrating group of plankton. 20 species could be identified. All stem from the surrounding deep water and belong to the tropical and subtropical fauna. On the plateau of the Great Meteor Seamount no indigenous species have been encountered and also the typical neritic species from the west coast off Africa are lacking. As for the euphausiids no relationships exist between the Great Meteor Seamount and the shelf area of West Africa. The dominant species around the Meteor Seamount were Euphausia brevii, Stylocheiron suhmii, E. hemigibba, S. longicorne and Thysanopoda subaequalis. Using the index of diversity (Simpson) distinct differences in the composition of species could be shown to exist between the plateau area of the Meteor Seamount and the surrounding sea. On the plateau of the Great Meteor Seamount the number of species was only 7, E. brevis and S. suhmii dominated. None of the species occurred in great numbers and none is adapted to the specific environmental conditions of the plateau of the Meteor Seamount. The fauna of the plateau is a depauperate one as compared with that of the surrounding sea. This can be explained by the fact that adult euphausiids require for their existence greater water depths than are found above the plateau of the Meteor Seamount.

Sublittoral and bathyal Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda) of the Magellan region

Two expeditions, undertaken in 1994 and 1996, provided quantitatively sampled material of sublittoral and bathyal meiobenthos from the Paso Ancho of the Straits of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, and the Patagonian continental slope (Chile). To investigate whether these distinct geographic areas might also be characterised by different harpacticoid assemblages, qualitative and quantitative analyses of Copepoda Harpacticoida were carried out. At supraspecific level 25 harpacticoid families were found, as well as several species that could not yet be assigned to any major harpacticoid taxon. Due to the high amount of collected Harpacticoida, detailed investigations at species level had to be restricted to six taxa, namely the Ancorabolidae, Argestidae, Cletodidae, Diosaccinae, Paramesochridae, and Paranannopinae. The corresponding specimens were assigned to 122 species in 52 genera. More than 80% of them are new to science. Qualitative comparisons of both species composition and species distribution allow the three areas to be distinguished in terms of species richness. However, statistical analyses confirm these results only partly. Similarity analyses applying non-metrical multidimensional scaling, as well as diversity analyses using the rarefaction method, suggest that the observed differences in distribution and diversity patterns are due to small-scale, local conditions, which may overlay possible large-scale ones.