Pallenopsis patagonica Scarabino & Lucena & Munilla & Soler-Membrives & Ortega & Schwindt & López & María & Christoffersen 2019

Pallenopsis patagonica (Hoek, 1881)

Distribution: Southeast Pacific, from 33°S to the Magellanic Region; Southwest Atlantic to ca. 37°15´S, including the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands and South Georgia Islands; Burdwood Bank; Antarctica (Ross Sea, Weddell Sea) (Weis et al. 2014).

Uruguayan records: Hoek (1881, as Phoxichilidium patagonicum var. elegans): HMS Challenger, st. 320. Depth 1097 m.

Remarks: Hoek (1881) describes his specimen from st. 320 as probably representing a more elongated individual due to the influence of depth. Child (1995b), analyzing a large amount of material from the Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic regions, observed that some specimens had more elongated appendages, while others had shorter ones (although he did not determine if the variation occurs in specific localities or is diffused along of region). More recently, Weis et al. (2014), using molecular and morphological data, evaluated the variations found in individuals of P. patagonica from the Antarctic and Subantarctic regions. They observed that P. patagonica represents a large species complex, with at least two clades, a Chilean clade (which they called P. yepayekae Weis, 2014) and a "Falkland" clade, maintained under P. patagonica. It was in this last clade that the individual analysed by Hoek (1881) (Pallenopsis patagonica sensu stricto) was positioned.

Child (1995b) reported material he assigned to this species from the shelf and slope off Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) collected by the RV Islas Orcadas (37°24´S– 54°39´7W, 182–327 m depth).