ABSTRACT

Three troglobitic myodocopid ostracodes (two previously described and one new) in the Order Halocyprida are reported from anchialine waters in inland blue holes on Grand Bahama Island and Andros Island. The adult male and female Deeveya bransoni Kornicker and Palmer, 1987, is described and illustrated, a key is presented to species of Deeveya, and the sexual dimorphism and ontogeny of the genus is discussed. Ten species of myodocopid ostracodes (seven previously described and three new) in the Order Myodocopida are reported from eight oceanic blue holes in the vicinity of Exuma Cays and Andros Island.

The sarsiellid genus Junctichela Kornicker and Caraion, 1978, is reported from the Bahamas for the first time, and the new species J. pax is interpreted to be endemic to Crab Cay Cravasse, Exuma Cays. Descriptions of some myodocopids include brief notes on gut contents (including nematode, amphipod, worm).

No anchialine halocyprid ostracodes have been collected in oceanic blue holes, nor have they been reported from shallow open waters of the Bahamas, from which 28 species of Myodocopida have been reported. Nine species of Myodocopida, which previously had been reported either from the shallow open water of the Bahamas, or the Atlantic shelf of North America, were collected also in the oceanic blue holes. The Simpson Index of faunal resemblance between species of Myodocopida occupying the open ocean and oceanic blue holes is 67, which suggests a close relationship.


 

Louis S. Kornicker, Department of Systematic Biology, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560, USA. - Thomas M. Iliffe, Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University at Galveston, P.O. Box 1675, Galveston, Texas 77553, USA. - Elizabeth Harrison-Nelson, Department of Systematic Biology, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560, USA.
E-mail: iliffet@tamug.edu

Keywords: Ostracoda; myodocopida; Deeveya; Junctichela; caves; anchialine; Bahamas.