Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Ostracoda
Order Halocyprida
Family Halocyprididae
Deeveya medix Kornicker, 1990
Taxonomic Characterization: The carapace is oval in the lateral view, except
for a straight dorsal margin and a slightly concave anterior margin. The right
valve has a small tubercle on the dorsal margin near the posterior end. D.
medix can be distinguished from other Deeveya species by the
following characteristics:
- The length of the carapace is between 1.75 mm and 2.2 mm.
- When the carapace is viewed with transmitted light, there are disks at
the intersections of reticule that are much wider than walls of
reticulations.
- The width of distal end of the third joint of the first antenna is
thirty-eight percent the length of the dorsal margin of the joint.
- The first endopodial joint of mandible has four medial bristles.
- An adult male is known to only exist in D. styrax and D.
medix of the genus Deeveya. The tips of the anterior branch of
the copulatory organ differ between these two species. D. medix has
a subterminal anterior toothed process on the anterior branch.
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Disposition of Specimens: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution, catalog numbers USNM 193592, 193599-604.
Ecological Classification: Stygobitic
Size: Adult females' length range from 1.67 to 1.75 mm. Adult males'
length range from 1.67 mm to 1.73 mm in length.
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
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Deeveya:
genus range |
Species Range: Known only from Sagittarius Cave,
Sweeting's Cay, Grand Bahama Island, Little Bahama Bank, Bahamas.
Closest Related Species: D. exleyi from Great Guana Cay, Exuma
Cays
Habitat: Anchialine limestone caves
Ecology: All specimens were free-swimming in the aphotic zone beneath the
density interface in full marine salinity water (35 ppt).
Life History: Unknown
Evolutionary Origins: The evolutionary origins of troglobitic ostracodes
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 ostracodes 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 Sweeting's Cay.
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 (Halocypridiae) 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.
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Contributor: Louis S. Kornicker, National Museum of Natural History,
Washington, DC
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