Deeveya medix

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.

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

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 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.

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


	*Deeveya medix*