Phylogenomics, life history and morphological evolution of ophiocomid brittlestars.

Brittlestars in the family Ophiocomidae are large and colourful inhabitants of tropical shallow water habitats across the globe. Here we use targeted capture and next-generation sequencing to generate robust phylogenomic trees for 39 of the 43 species in order to test the monophyly of existing genera. The large genus Ophiocoma, as currently constituted, is paraphyletic on our trees and required revision. Four genera are recognised herein: an expanded Ophiomastix (now including Ophiocoma wendtii, O. occidentalis, O. endeani, O. macroplaca, and Ophiarthrum spp), Ophiocomella (now including the non-fissiparous Ophiocoma pumila, aethiops and valenciae) and Breviturma (now including Ophiocoma pica, O. pusilla, O. paucigranulata and O. longispina) and a restricted Ophiocoma. The resulting junior homonym Ophiomastix elegans is renamed O. brocki. The genus Ophiomastix exhibits relatively high rates of morphological disparity compared to other lineages. Ophiomastix flaccida and O. (formerly Ophiarthrum) pictum have divergent mitochondrial genomes, characterised by gene-order rearrangements, strand recoding, enriched GT base composition, and a corresponding divergence of nuclear mitochondrial protein genes. The new phylogeny indicates that larval and developmental transitions occurred rarely. Larval culture trials show that species with abbreviated lecithotrophic larval development occur only within Ophiomastix, although the possible monophyly of these species is obscured by the rapid early radiation within this genus. Asexual reproduction by fission is limited to one species-complex within Ophiocomella, also characterised by elevated levels of allelic heterozygosity, and which has achieved a relatively rapid global distribution. The crown ages of the new genera considerably predate the closure of the Tethyan seaway and all four are distributed in both the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. Two species pairs appear to reflect the closure of the Panama Seaway, although their fossil-calibrated node ages (12-14 ±â€¯6 my), derived from both concatenated sequence and multispecies coalescent analyses, considerably predate the terminal closure event. Ophiocoma erinaceus has crossed the East Pacific barrier and is recorded from Clipperton Island, SW of Mexico.

Melanella martarum sp. nov. (Gastropoda: Eulimidae): the first parasitic deep-sea snail reported for the Salas & Gomez Ridge.

Eulimidae is a highly diverse family of gastropods that are often parasites of echinoderms. They are cosmopolitan and live from the intertidal to great depths. Despite its wide geographic and bathymetric distribution, no species of Eulimidae have been reported for the Salas & Gómez Ridge to date. In this study, we describe Melanella martarum sp. nov., which was collected during the EPIC oceanographic cruise onboard RV Mirai (JAMSTEC, Japan) in 2019. Seven specimens were collected with a modified Agassiz trawl on the summit of seamount "Pearl" (Zhemchuznaya) in the Salas & Gómez Ridge (25.59°S, 89.13°W) at 545 m depth. The morphology of M. martarum sp. nov. was compared with other Melanella species reported for the area, including Chile and Rapa Nui. DNA was extracted and partial sequences of the mitochondrial genes Cytochrome Oxidase 1 (COI) and 16S rDNA, and the nuclear gene Histone 3 (H3) were sequenced. Melanella martarum sp. nov. has morphological characteristics that separate it from other species of Melanella, such as the thickness and color of the shell, and the shape of the protoconch. In addition, M. martarum sp. nov. was genetically differentiated from other Melanella spp. sequences (uncorrected p distances from 18,1-8.6% in mitochondrial COI and 16S rDNA to 3% in nuclear H3 sequences). Although there is not much molecular data available for Eulimidae, the phylogenetic analysis confirms the results obtained by morphology, placing the species found on the Salas & Gómez Ridge within the genus Melanella. The current study advances the understanding of the poorly known benthic fauna found on seamounts in the easternmost part of the Sala & Gómez ridge, a location distinguished by a high level of endemism.

Stable isotopes reveal overlooked incorporation of diffuse land-based sources of nutrients and organic matter by intertidal communities at Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

Rapa Nui is an important hotspot of endemic marine biodiversity, where diffuse land-based sources (e.g., nutrients and organic matter) entering into coastal waters could develop eutrophication in coastal environments, with deleterious impacts on the marine ecosystem. Stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) of intertidal communities (macroalgae and invertebrates) were studied from sites with contrasting human influence (populated and unpopulated), to evaluate the incorporation and transfer of diffuse land-based sources through food webs. Macroalgae showed differences between some sites, and invertebrates showed a 15N-enrichment pattern at populated areas relative to unpopulated, being these differences significant in gastropods, barnacles and sea urchins. Moreover, trophic structure metrics suggest a higher trophic diversity in populated areas relative to unpopulated and support the isotopic partitioning between sites, associated with the incorporation of sources with 15N-enriched values. The above suggests that diffuse land-based sources could be incorporated by macroalgae, transferred into benthic consumers, and altering the trophic structure.

Seafloor litter at oceanic islands and seamounts of the southeastern Pacific.

Seafloor litter in oceanic islands of the southeastern Pacific Ocean have rarely been described and quantified, mainly due to the associated logistical challenges. In this study, we describe and quantify the different kinds of litter from 60 to 320 m depths in Rapa Nui (RN) and Desventuradas Islands (DI), and evaluated the relationship of this litter with the local population in terms of demographic density and fishing activity. The study compiled data from 84 stations surveyed with a ROV representing a total distance of 22 km. Litter was grouped into six categories. 96 observations of litter and debris were taken around RN, most of which associated with local artisanal fishing activity, especially fishing anchors (56%). No tourism-associated debris were reported. Any kind of seafloor litter was observed at DI. The present study provides baseline information for the local community to improve management by understanding the potential sources of seafloor litter.

Complete mitochondrial genomes of two species of Stichopathes Brook, 1889 (Hexacorallia: Antipatharia: Antipathidae) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

We report the complete mitochondrial genomes of two antipatharian species, Stichopathes sp. SCBUCN-8849 and Stichopathes sp. SCBUCN-8850, collected between 120 and 180 m depth off Rapa Nui (∼ -27.1°, -109.4°). The size of the two mitogenomes are 20,389 bp (29.0% A, 15.2% C, 19.9% G, and 35.9% T) and 20,463 bp (29.0% A, 15.3% C, 19.9% G, and 35.8% T), respectively. Both mitogenomes have the classic Hexacorallia gene content of 13 protein-coding, two rRNA, and two tRNA genes plus a COX1 intron with embedded HEG as found in the Antipathidae and other antipatharian families.

A new threat to local marine biodiversity: filamentous mats proliferating at mesophotic depths off Rapa Nui.

Mesophotic and deeper habitats (∼40 to 350 m in depth) around Rapa Nui (Easter Island) were investigated using a remotely operated vehicle. We observed extensive fields of filamentous cyanobacteria-like mats covering sandy substrates and mostly dead mesophotic Leptoseris spp. reefs. These mats covered up to 100% of the seafloor off Hanga Roa, the main village on the island, located on its western side. The highest mortality of corals was observed at depths between 70 and 95 m in this area. Healthy Leptoseris reefs were documented off the northern and southeastern sides of the island, which are also the least populated. A preliminary morphologic analysis of samples of the mats indicated that the assemblage is composed of at least four filamentous taxa, including two cyanobacteria (cf. Lyngbya sp. and Pseudoanabaena sp.), a brown alga (Ectocarpus sp.), and a green alga (Cladophora sp.). An ongoing eutrophication process is suggested as a potential driver of the proliferation of these filamentous mats off Hanga Roa village.

First description of deep benthic habitats and communities of oceanic islands and seamounts of the Nazca Desventuradas Marine Park, Chile.

Seamounts and oceanic islands of the Chilean Exclusive Economic Zone at the intersection of the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridges lie within one of the least explored areas in the world. The sparse information available, mainly for seamounts outside Chilean jurisdiction and shallow-water fauna of the Desventuradas Islands, suggests that the area is a hotspot of endemism. This apparent uniqueness of the fauna motivated the creation of the large Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park (NDMP, ~ 300,000 km2) around the small islands San Felix and San Ambrosio in 2015. We report for the first time a detailed description of benthic microhabitats (i.e., centimeter to meter scale), macrohabitats (i.e., meter to kilometer-scale) and associated megafauna within the NDMP. Descriptions were based on analysis of fauna collected by trawling and ROV video observations from ~ 50 to 370 m depth. Rocky, coarse sand and silty sediment bottom habitats were observed at island slopes. In contrast, rocky and coarse sandy bottom habitats with a predominance of rhodoliths, thanatocoenosis, and other biogenic components were observed at seamounts. Mobile fauna and predators dominated the oceanic islands and nearby seamounts, whereas seamounts farther from the islands were dominated by sessile and hemisessile fauna that were mainly suspension and deposit feeders. Based on the register of 118 taxonomic units, our results provide an expanded and updated baseline for the benthic biodiversity of NDMP habitats, which seemed pristine, without evidence of trawling or anthropogenic debris.

A new species of Munida Leach, 1820 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Munididae) from seamounts of the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park.

Munida diritas sp. nov. is described for the seamounts near Desventuradas Islands, in the intersection of the Salas & Gómez and Nazca Ridges, Chile. Specimens of the new species were collected in the summit (∼200 m depth) of one seamount and observed by ROV at two nearby ones. This species is characterized by the presence of distinct carinae on the thoracic sternites 6 and 7. Furthermore, it is not related with any species from the continental shelf nor the slope of America, while it is closely related to species of Munida from French Polynesia and the West-Pacific Ocean (i.e., M. ommata, M. psylla and M. rufiantennulata). In situ observations indicate that the species lives among the tentacles of ceriantarid anemones and preys on small crustaceans. The discovery of this new species adds to the knowledge of the highly endemic benthic fauna of seamounts of the newly created Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park, emphasizing the relevance of this area for marine conservation.

A new species of Eunice Cuvier, 1817 (Polychaeta: Eunicidae) from the slope of the Desventuradas Islands and seamounts of the Nazca Ridge, southeastern Pacific Ocean.

A new species of Eunicidae, Eunice decolorhami sp. n., from the southeastern Pacific Ocean, is described. The species was collected at the slope of the Desventuradas Islands (San Félix and San Ambrosio) and in three nearby seamounts of the Nazca Ridge, in dead coral rubble bottoms from 180 to 340 m depth and inhabiting inside parchment-like branched tubes. Eunice decolorhami sp. n. can be distinguished from other species of the genus, mainly by the coloration pattern of the subacicular hooded hooks along the body segments, the beginning of the subacicular hooded hooks, the beginning of the branchiae, the maximum number of branchial filaments, and the maxillary formula. A key for the seven Eunice species recorded off the coast of Chile and Peru, including the new species described herein, is provided.

A new species of Atrimitra Dall, 1918 (Gastropoda: Mitridae) from seamounts of the recently created Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park, Chile.

We describe Atrimitra isolata sp. n. (Gastropoda: Mitridae), collected on the summit of seamounts (~200 m water depth) in the vicinity of Desventuradas Islands, Chile insular territory. Additionally, we provide some insight into the habitat of this new species based on underwater imagery taken with a remotely operated vehicle. A. isolata sp. n. is characterized by its small size (up to 26 mm), elongate-ovate shape, solid shell and smooth appearance. It has a base brown color, with some specimens being tan or yellow. It is morphologically related to counterparts from shallow depths on the west coast of North, Central and South America (i.e., Atrimitra idae, Atrimitra orientalis and Atrimitra semigranosa), but has no affinities with species of the family reported from around Easter Island, on the far western side of the Salas y Gómez ridge (e.g., Strigatella flavocingulata, Imbricariopsis punctata and Neocancilla takiisaoi), or with other Indo-Pacific species. The present contribution adds to the knowledge of the poorly studied fauna of the seamounts in the southern portion of the Nazca ridge and easternmost section of the Sala y Gómez ridge, an area characterized by the high degree of endemism of its benthic fauna, and now protected within the large and newly created Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park.

Environmental and ecological factors mediate taxonomic composition and body size of polyplacophoran assemblages along the Peruvian Province.

Intertidal communities' composition and diversity usually exhibit strong changes in relation to environmental gradients at different biogeographical scales. This study represents the first comprehensive diversity and composition description of polyplacophoran assemblages along the Peruvian Province (SE Pacific, 12°S-39°S), as a model system for ecological latitudinal gradients. A total of 4,775 chitons from 21 species were collected on twelve localities along the Peruvian Province. This sampling allowed us to quantitatively estimate the relative abundance of the species in this assemblage, and to test whether chitons conform to elementary predictions of major biogeographic patterns such as a latitudinal diversity gradient. We found that the species composition supported the division of the province into three ecoregional faunal groups (i.e. Humboldtian, Central Chile, and Araucanian). Though chiton diversity did not follow a clear latitudinal gradient, changes in species composition were dominated by smaller scale variability in salinity and temperature. Body size significantly differed by ecoregions and species, indicating latitudinal size-structure assamblages. In some localities body size ratios differed from a random assemblage, evidencing competition at local scale. Changes in composition between ecoregions influence body size structure, and their overlapping produce vertical size segregation, suggesting that competition coupled with environmental conditions structure these assemblages.

Thorson's rule, life-history evolution, and diversification of benthic octopuses (Cephalopoda: Octopodoidea).

Here, we evaluate the so-called Thorson's rule, which posits that direct-development and larger eggs are favored toward the poles in marine organisms and whose validity been the subject of considerable debate in the literature, combining an expanded phenotypic dataset encompassing 60 species of benthic octopuses with a new molecular phylogeny. Phylogenetic reconstruction shows two clades: clade 1 including species of the families Eledonidae, Megaleledonidae, Bathypolypodidae, and Enteroctopodidae, and clade 2 including species of Octopodidae. Egg size, development mode, and all environmental variables exhibited phylogenetic signal, partly due to differences between the two clades: whereas most species in clade 1 inhabit cold and deep waters, exhibit large eggs and hatchling with holobenthic development, species from clade 2 inhabit tropical-temperate and shallow waters, evolved small eggs, and generally exhibit merobenthic development. Phylogenetic regressions show that egg size exhibits a conspicuous latitudinal cline, and that both egg size and development mode vary with water temperature. Additionally, analyses suggest that egg size is constrained by body size in lineages with holobenthic development. Taken together, results suggest that the variation in egg size and development mode across benthic octopuses is adaptive and associated with water temperature, supporting Thorson's rule in these organisms.

Comments on "A new deep-water Astyris species (Buccinoidea: Columbellidae) from the southeastern Pacific" by Araya et al. 2016.

The aim of this note is to clarify some aspects posed by Araya et al. (2016) in the description of the columbellid gastropod Astyris atacamensis for northern Chile, and also to complement it for providing further insight on important ecological aspects of the genus Astyris in the SE Pacific. Araya et al. (2016) fill an important gap, describing a species that in my opinion is important in many aspects, yet, they fail in connecting this new species with previous work in which this taxon has been mentioned. Araya et al. (2016) indicate that the genus has not been previously reported for the SE Pacific; however, Levin et al. (2002a) already mention finding Astyris permodesta (Dall, 1890) off Callao, Perú (~12°S). Astyris permodesta, originally described for the coast of California, is currently accepted under the genus Alia (Monsecour 2015). Although we still cannot confirm, most probably future analysis will prove that A. permodesta reported for Perú by Levin et al. (2002a) corresponds indeed to the new species Astyris atacamensis. Future work should elucidate the definitive placement of this species in either Alia or Astyris, but hereafter I will indistinctly use Astyris.

Update of the genus Leptochiton (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) in Chilean deep waters: three new reports and description of two new species.

We update the list of the bathyal chitons of the genus Leptochiton inhabiting Chilean waters. We report new records of Leptochiton belknapi and L. laurae, the first record of L. sigwartae for the area and the new species L. ibanezi sp. nov. and L. ferreirai sp. nov. With 12 species, including those described herein as new, the highest species richness of Leptochiton is found in Chilean deep waters. Taking into consideration the potential late Paleozoic origin of the genus Leptochiton, we propose that Leptochiton originated in the old Pacific Ocean and migrated to the young Atlantic Ocean. However, the genus has also been considered non-monophyletic.

Ascidian fauna (Tunicata, Ascidiacea) of subantarctic and temperate regions of Chile.

We studied the ascidian fauna from two zones located in subantarctic (Punta Arenas, latitude 53º) and temperate Chile (Coquimbo, latitude 29º). The different oceanographic features of the two zones, with influence of the Humboldt Current in the north and the Cape Horn Current System and freshwater inputs in the south, led to markedly different ascidian faunas. A total of 22 species were recorded, with no shared species across the two areas (11 species each). The new species Polyzoa iosune is described, Lissoclinum perforatum is found for the first time in the Pacific Ocean, and Synoicum georgianum and Polyzoa minor are new to the Chilean fauna. The populations of Ciona in the Coquimbo area (formerly attributed to Ciona intestinalis) correspond to the species Ciona robusta. A total of 35 Cytochrome oxidase (COI) sequences of the standard barcode region have been obtained for 17 of the 22 species reported.

A review of the Munidopsidae Ortmann, 1898 (Decapoda, Galatheoidea) in Chilean waters, including new records for the Southeastern Pacific.

The information about the family Munidopsidae in Chile is scarce and sparse, making identification of new material. difficult. Due to this we lack precise information about the number and accurate distribution of Chilean species. Recent expeditions to Chile have collected specimens of this group, allowing an exhaustive review of the registers and collections in four museums in the country. A total of 93 specimens from six expeditions were analyzed, belonging to twelve species, of which five represent first records for the Chilean waters. The family in Chile is now composed by 19 bathyal and abyssal species; three belong to the genus Galacantha and 16 to Munidopsis. Only three species have distributions restricted to southeastern Pacific waters (M. cochlearis, M. follirostris and M. opalescens). Three other species are widely distributed along the eastern Pacific from Alaska or from Oregon to Chile (M. aspera, M. quadrata and M. verrucosus). No relationships were observed between the extensive geographical distribution of species and the bathymetric distribution.

The South American radiation of Jerrybuccinum (Gastropoda, Buccinidae), with a new deep-water species from Chile.

A new deep water species from off the Chilean coast, Jerrybuccinum kantori sp. n., is described. The animal is equipped with a large statocyst. Kryptos explorator Fraussen & Sellanes, 2008 from off Concepción is found to be congeneric and transferred to the genus Jerrybuccinum. Differences in size and sculpture serve to distinguish the new species from J. explorator. Both Chilean species are associated with methane seep or low oxygen environments. They are compared with J. malvinense Kantor & Pastorino, 2009 and two still unnamed species from the Falkland Plateau.