Relict from the Jurassic: new family of brittle-stars from a New Caledonian seamount
O'Hara, T.D.; Thuy, B.; Hugall, A.F. (2021). Relict from the Jurassic: new family of brittle-stars from a New Caledonian seamount. Proc. - Royal Soc., Biol. Sci. 288(1953): 20210684. https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0684
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. The Royal Society: London. ISSN 0962-8452; e-ISSN 1471-2954, meer
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| Trefwoorden |
Benthic fauna
Deep sea
Taxa > Species > New taxa > New species
ISEW, New Caledonia [Marine Regions]
Marien/Kust |
| Author keywords |
Late Triassic, Dna Phylogeny, New Family, Ancient Lineage, Taxonomic Research |
| Auteurs | | Top |
- O'Hara, T.D.
- Thuy, B.
- Hugall, A.F.
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| Abstract |
The deep-seafloor in the tropical Indo-Pacific harbours a rich and diverse benthic fauna with numerous palaeoendemics. Here, we describe a new species, genus and family of brittle-star (Ophiuroidea) from a single eight-armed specimen collected from a depth between 360 and 560 m on Banc Durand, a seamount east of New Caledonia. Leveraging a robust, fossil-calibrated (265 kbp DNA) phylogeny for the Ophiuroidea, we estimate the new lineage diverged from other ophiacanthid families in the Late Triassic or Jurassic (median = 187–178 Myr, 95% CI = 215–143 Myr), a period of elevated diversification for this group. We further report very similar microfossil remains from Early Jurassic (180 Myr) sediments of Normandy, France. The discovery of a new ancient lineage in the relatively well-known Ophiuroidea indicates the importance of ongoing taxonomic research in the deep-sea, an environment increasingly threatened by human activities. |
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