Deeveya jillae

Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Ostracoda
Order Halocyprida
Family Halocyprididae

Deeveya jillae Kornicker & Iliffe, 1989

Taxonomic Characterization: Carapace oval in lateral view except for straight dorsal margin and slightly concave anterior margin. Right valve with small tubercle on dorsal margin near posterior end. Carapace viewed with transmitted light with coarse, bright disks; walls of reticulations within shell also visible with transmitted light (Kornicker & Iliffe, 1989; Kornicker, Yager & Williams, 1990).

Disposition of Specimens: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, catalog numbers USNM 193298-193300.

Ecological Classification: Stygobitic

Size: Estimated adult carapace length ranges from 1.32 to 1.35 mm (Kornicker, Yager & Williams, 1990:48).

Number of Species in Genus: Seven, all from anchialine caves

Genus Range:

Bahamas: Abaco Island: D. styrax Kornicker, 1990 and D. hirpex Kornicker, 1990 Eleuthera Island: D. jillae Kornicker & Iliffe, 1989 Exuma Cays: D. exleyi Kornicker & Iliffe, 1998 Grand Bahama Island: D. styrax Kornicker, 1990 and D. medix Kornicker, 1990 South Andros Island: D. bransoni Kornicker & Palmer, 1987 Turks and Caicos Islands: Providenciales Island: D. spiralis Kornicker & Iliffe, 1985
		*Deeveya*: genus range

Species Range: Known only from Hatchet Bay Cave, Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera Island, Bahamas.

Habitat: Anchialine Limestone Caves

Ecology: Collected at depths of 0-3 m in waters with a salinity of 32 ppt. Additional fauna found were: an ostracod species Danielopolina bahamensis, a calanoid copepod and a macellicephalan polynoid polychaete (perhaps a young Pelagomecellicephala iliffei). Stomach contents show anywhere from amber-colored fragments of an unidentified organism to brown unrecognized organic particles.

Life History: Only four specimens were collected. The holotype is a juvenile (A-1) male while the remaining three were A-3 juveniles (sex unknown). Copulatory organs were not present in the specimens.

Evolutionary Origins: The evolutionary origins of troglobitic ostracods remain undetermined. They may have originated from the deep sea (Iliffe 1990:95; 1991:227-228) or from shallow water crevices (Danielopol, 1990:141; Danielopol et al., 1996:82). These ostracods may have been in shallow anchialine pools and then migrated to the more stable cave environment (Iliffe in Kornicker & Iliffe, 1998:2). The genera Deeveya Kornicker & Iliffe, 1985 and Spelaeoecia Angel & Iliffe, 1987 comprise the subfamily Deeveyinae Kornicker & Iliffe, 1985. The distribution of this subfamily is restricted to the Caribbean, West Indies, Bermuda, and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Conservation Status: Restricted to a single cave on Eleuthera Island, Bahamas.

References:

Danielopol, D.L. 1990. The origin of the anchialine cave fauna - the "deep sea" versus the "shallow water" hypothesis tested against the empirical evidence of the Thaumatocyprididae (Ostracoda). Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 60(3/4):137-143, figure 1.
Danielopol, D.L., A. Baltanas, and G. Bonaduce. 1996. The darkness syndrome in subsurface-shallow and deep-sea dwelling Ostracoda (Crustacea). In: F. Uiblein, J. Ott and M. Stachowitsch, editors, Deep-Sea and Extreme Shallow-Water Habitats: Affinities and Adaptations. Biosystematics and Ecology Series, 11:123-144. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Iliffe, T.M. 1990. Crevicular dispersal of marine cave faunas. Memoires de Biospeologie, 17:93-96.
Iliffe, T.M. 1991. Anchialine fauna of the Galapagos Islands. In: M.J. James, editor, Galapagos Marine Invertebrates. Pages 209-231. New York: Plenum Press.
Kornicker, L.S. and T.M. Iliffe. 1985. Deeveyinae, a new subfamily of Ostracoda (Halocyprididae) from a marine cave on the Turks and Caicos Islands. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 98(2):476-493, 13 figures.
Kornicker, L.S. and T.M. Iliffe. 1989. New Ostracoda (Halocyprida: Thaumatocyprididae and Halocyprididae) from anchialine caves in the Bahamas, Palau and Mexico. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 470: 1-47, 22 figures, 8 tables.
Kornicker, L.S. and T.M. Iliffe. 1998. Myodocopid Ostracoda (Halocypridina, Cladocopina) from anchialine caves in the Bahamas, Canary Islands, and Mexico. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 599:1-93, 62 figures, 2 maps, 9 tables.
Kornicker, L.S. and R.J. Palmer. 1987. Deeveya bransoni, a new species of troglobitic halocyprid ostracode from anchialine caves on South Andros Island, Bahamas (Crustacea: Ostracoda). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 100:610-623, 6 figures, 1 table.
Kornicker, L.S., J. Yager and D. Williams. 1990. Ostracoda (Halocyprididae) from anchialine caves in the Bahamas. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 495:1-51, 30 figures, 4 tables.

Contributor: Louis S. Kornicker, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC