Abstract
The bathyal kinorhynch fauna along the Northwest American continental rise is explored, with emphasis on species of Echinoderidae Zelinka, 1894. Seven species of Echinoderes Claparède, 1863 are described as new to science: E. anniae sp. nov., E. dubiosus sp. nov., E. hamiltonorum sp. nov., E. hviidarum sp. nov., E. juliae sp. nov., E. lupherorum sp. nov. and E. yamasakii sp. nov. Three known species, Echinoderes hakaiensis Herranz, Yangel & Leander, 2017, E. cf. unispinosus Yamasaki, Neuhaus & George, 2018 and Fissuroderes higginsi Neuhaus & Blasche, 2006, are reported. The numerous new species indicate that the deep-sea still holds a great, undiscovered diversity of kinorhynchs, and that Echinoderes, as is also the case in more shallow, coastal waters, represents an important component of the deep-sea kinorhynch fauna. The presence of E. hakaiensis in the deep-sea sediments demonstrates that the species may occur at a great depth range, and suggests that depth may play a less important role for the distribution of some kinorhynch species. The finding of the Northeast Atlantic species E. cf. unispinosus and the Southwest Pacific species Fissuroderes higginsi could indicate that kinorhynch species in the deep-sea may cover considerably larger distributional ranges than is assumed for coastal species of Echinoderidae.
Highlights
This study showed that the northeast Pacific deep-sea holds a rich and diverse kinorhynch fauna
More than one thousand kinorhynch specimens were collected from the eight sampling sites
A majority of the specimens could not be identified to species-level, either because they were juveniles or because of their general condition, but this clearly indicates that the deep-sea kinorhynch fauna is dominated by echinoderids – just as the case is in many coastal habitats
Summary
Species of the meiobenthic group Kinorhyncha Dujardin, 1851 are today known from most parts of the world, and over the last ten years, studies of their taxonomy and biogeography have intensifiedEuropean Journal of Taxonomy 456: 1–75 (2018)considerably (Sánchez et al 2012, 2013; Dal Zotto et al 2013; Herranz & Pardos 2013; Herranz et al 2014, 2018; Neuhaus et al 2014; Sørensen & Landers 2014, 2017; Neuhaus & Kegel 2015; Dal Zotto & Todaro 2016; Herranz & Leander 2016; Landers & Sørensen 2016; Neves et al 2016; Pardos et al 2016a, 2016b; Sánchez & Yamasaki 2016; Sørensen et al 2016a, 2016b; Yamasaki 2016a, 2016b; Landers et al 2018). Adrianov & Maiorova (2015, 2016, in press) published a series of papers on deep-sea species from the Sea of Okhotsk and the abyssal plains near the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. These species include an as yet unpublished new species of Meristoderes Herranz et al, 2012 from 3351 m depth (Adrianov & Maiorova in press), Condyloderes kurilensis Adrianov & Maiorova, 2016 from 5222 m depth, and Cristaphyes abyssorum (Adrianov & Maiorova, 2015) from 5766 m depth, making the latter species the deepest identified kinorhynch known so far
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