Parvipalpina verrucosa Stephensen 1944

Parvipalpina cf. verrucosa Stephensen, 1944

(Figs. 12–15)

Parvipalpina verrucosa Stephensen, 1944: 46 –48, fig. 36.— McCain, 1966: 92.— MCain & Steinberg, 1970: 63.— Larsen, 1998: 86.

Material examined. SELVA 2008: 1 male (used for drawings of lateral view, antennae and gnathopods) (2 slides, mouthparts dissected) (MHNUSC 25108), 1 juvenile male (used for drawings of pereopods 6 and 7, abdomen and mouthparts (vial with 70% ethanol and 2 slides, mouthparts dissected) (MHNUSC 25109); AT-12, 18 July 2008, 44°15.367’N, 008°30.438’W, 2516 m, stones with dead corals.

Remarks. The genus Parvipalpina was erected by Stephensen (1944) with the description of Parvipalpina verrucosa, based on a male specimen collected from the SW of Iceland at 1505 m. To our knowledge, this is the first record of the species after the original description. Although the most important characters are clearly reported by Stephensen (1944) in his description and figures, details of gnathopods, mouthparts and abdomen were lacking so we provide full figures of the species in the present study. Our specimens are in good agreement with the description of Stephensen (1944) in the following diagnostic characteristics: (1) presence of accessory flagellum on antenna 1, (2) head, pereonite 1 and 7 smooth but pereonites 2 to 6 densely covered by tiny tubercles, (3) pereopods 3 and 4 absent (only a seta is present), (4) pereopod 5 reduced to a bud-like process, located by the middle of pereonite 5, and tipped by a strong seta, (5) abdomen without appendages and (6) pereopods 6 and 7 with a unique shape (see fig. 36 in Stephensen, 1944 and Fig. 15 in the present study) and propodus provided with grasping spines The main differences among specimens from Iceland and those from the present study are (1) eyes are not clearly distinguished in Galician specimens and (2) the suture and line between head and pereonite 1 is not evident in Galician specimens and is marked in the material figured by Stephensen. However, our material contains only one juvenile and 1 subadult male, so it is possible that this character is not totally developed yet. JMGG studied extensive collections from Iceland waters, the type locality of the species, in the context of inter-Nordic BIOICE project (Guerra-García, unpublished data) and this species was not present. The BIOICE project, aimed at a faunistic-zoogeographical survey of the benthic invertebrate fauna in the Icelandic exclusive economic zone, covered a period from 1992 to 2002, depths from 50 to 3000 m, including 1300 samples from 530 localities. The collections contained more than 2500 caprellid specimens belonging to 14 different caprellid species (Guerra- García, unpublished data), but no specimens of P. verrucosa were found, suggesting that it is an occasional species. Taking into account the scarcity of studied material, it is necessary the collection of further material, both full adult males, and females, since detailed figures of the females are still lacking for this species.

Distribution. Iceland (Stepehensen, 1944). NW Iberian Peninsula (present study).