IMIS

Distributional data on planktonic, benthic and sympagic copepods collected in the framework of the XXXIVth Expeditions of the Italian National Antarctic Program (PNRA) to the Ross Sea sector from 2018-2019 are provided here. These occurrences correspond to specimens collected from the 25 μm filters used in the desalination plant of the Italian research station "Mario Zucchelli" (MZS), located in the Terra Nova Bay area (TNB; Ross Sea, Antarctica). This dataset is a contribution to the Antarctic Biodiversity Portal, the thematic Antarctic node for both the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (AntOBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Antarctic Biodiversity Information Facility (ANTABIF) (http://www.biodiversity.aq). The dataset was uploaded and integrated with the SCAR-AntOBIS database (the geospatial component of SCAR-MarBIN), under the licence CC-BY 4.0. Please follow the guidelines from the SCAR Data Policy (SCAR, 2022) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via data-biodiversity-aq@naturalsciences.be. Issues with dataset can be reported at https://github.com/biodiversity-aq/data-publication/

We describe the diversity of marine copepods of Terra Nova Bay (TNB) sampled by the filters installed in the desalination unit (DU) of the Italian research station "Mario Zucchelli". The opening of the intake pipe of the DU is positioned at a depth of 4 meters and allowed a total of 2,116 specimens to be sampled and recognized. In addition, new occurrence records of copepod genera and species are reported in the same zone. We provide an overview of the marine copepods diversity reported for TNB. The total 2,116 individuals correspond to 14 genera and 15 species and are represented by 167 occurrence records in this dataset. Around 52% of the total number of species are new records for the TNB area are reported in this dataset. The publication of this data paper was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO, contract n°FR/36/AN1/AntaBIS) in the Framework of EU-Lifewatch as a contribution to the SCAR Antarctic biodiversity portal (biodiversity.aq)