Abstract
Chromadorina is a globally distributed, largely marine nematode genus frequently found on a variety of organisms, including macro- and microalgae and crustaceans, as well as artificial substrates such as settlement plates and ship hulls. Here, Chromadorina tangaroa sp. nov. is described from filamentous seaweed growing on the hull of RV Tangaroa anchored in Wellington, North Island of New Zealand. It is characterized by body length 763–1,086 μm, and pore of secretory-excretory system located at or near level of teeth. Males have spicules with rounded capitulum followed by a narrower shaft and blade tapered distally, a gubernaculum as long as the spicules, and three cup-shaped precloacal supplements, and females are characterized by a cuticularized prevulvar pad, vagina located at 46–48% of body length from anterior, and vagina anteriorly directed. Chromadorina tangaroa sp. nov. is the first species of the genus to be described from New Zealand, but it is unclear whether it is native to the region because it may have dispersed as part of ship hull biofouling communities. Long-distance transport of nematodes through ship hull biofouling may be a common occurrence, but too little is known about the occurrence of nematodes on ship hulls to gauge the potential effect of shipping on nematode species distributions.
Highlights
Long-distance transport of nematodes is likely to occur through both biofouling and ballast slurry sediments (Radziejewska, Gruska & Rokicka-Praxmajer, 2006; Sutherland & Levings, 2013), but little is known about the occurrence of nematodes on ship hulls and the potential effect of shipping on nematode species distributions
Chromadorina tangaroa sp. nov. is the first species of the genus to be described from New Zealand
It has been suggested that some cosmopolitan nematode species have been transported outside their native range following the accidental introduction of their macroalgal habitat in new environments (Kim et al, 2019)
Summary
Vessel hulls are colonized by a wide variety of sessile and mobile organisms ranging from microscopic prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes to large invertebrates and macroalgae. Nematodes have very limited active dispersal abilities, but their small size allows them to be passively transported by currents into the water column (Shanks & Walters, 1997; Boeckner, Sharma & Proctor, 2009), or as epibionts on sea turtle carapaces and drifting macroalgae (Arroyo, Aarnio & Bonsdorff, 2006; Correa et al, 2014). These transport pathways are thought to largely explain the cosmopolitan distribution of some nematode and other meiofaunal taxa (the so-called “meiofauna paradox”; Giere, 1993). Long-distance transport of nematodes is likely to occur through both biofouling and ballast slurry sediments (Radziejewska, Gruska & Rokicka-Praxmajer, 2006; Sutherland & Levings, 2013), but little is known about the occurrence of nematodes on ship hulls and the potential effect of shipping on nematode species distributions
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