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A new pelagic Alteutha (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica—description, ecology and information on its year round distribution

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Abstract

A new harpacticoid copepod species was found during a year round plankton survey in a shallow Antarctic bay. Both the dominant Calanoida and Cyclopoida and the often neglected Harpacticoida, their abundances in relation to sea-ice formation and decline in presence of Euphausia superba are regarded, in this study. Alteutha potter sp. n. (Peltidiidae) was collected in Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica. While its geographical region occurrence and planktonic life style are comparable to many of its congeners, morphological characters such as shape and setation of the maxilliped and the almost complete fusion of the baseoendopod and the exopod of the fifth leg in the female are described for the first time for this genus. Morphological peculiarities such as the lack, the deformation or fusion of setae on only one body side have been detected in several specimens. This copepod species is obviously sea-ice related. Its abundances in the plankton reached a maximum under the winter sea-ice. The year round population structure did not show very high variability whereas ovigerous females mostly occurred in spring and summer. Assuming different possible ecological strategies and environmental temperatures generation times between 46 and 77 days are calculated for A. potter sp. n.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank the Instituto Antártico Argentino, the University of Buenos Aires, and CONICET (Argentina), as well as the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research and the DAAD (Germany) for providing funds and facilities, which allowed to conduct this study. Alejandro Olariaga is thanked for helping in the field and in the laboratory, Cécile Riaudel for drawing the female body parts. We are indebted to the personnel of Jubany Station for their logistic support and Adrian Atencio for sampling during wintertime. Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schiel provided VF with working facilities at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute and Prof. Dr. Horst Kurt Schminke and the Department of Zoosystematics and Morphology of the University of Oldenburg gave access to the Monoculus library, an invaluable help for taxonomic work. The comments of two anonymous reviewers helped improving the manuscript. The description is a contribution to the Census of Marine Zooplankton.

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  1. Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, DZMB—Deutsches Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätsforschung, Südstrand 44, D-26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Gritta Veit-Köhler

  2. Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Columbusstraße, D-27515, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Verónica Fuentes

  3. Facultad de Cs. Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Verónica Fuentes

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  1. Gritta Veit-Köhler
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  2. Verónica Fuentes
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Correspondence to Gritta Veit-Köhler.

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Veit-Köhler, G., Fuentes, V. A new pelagic Alteutha (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica—description, ecology and information on its year round distribution. Hydrobiologia 583, 141–163 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0482-8

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