La fauna de caprélidos (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Caprellidea) de la costa de Coquimbo, centro-norte de Chile, con una clave taxonómica para la identificación de las especies

Abstract

Caprellids are abundant in many littoral habitats ofthe marine environment. Nevertheless, this group of amphipods has been scarcely studied along the coast of Chile. The study ofthe Caprellidea is particular! y difficult dueto the high degree of intra-specific morphological variability and the fact that literature and specimens from Museums are not easily located. The objective of the present study was to pro vide the taxonomical tools to identify the most common caprellid species from northem-central Chile. Severa! habitats were examined (buoys, boulders, algal/seagrass beds) and six caprellid species were found: Caprellina longicollis (Nicolet, 1849), Cap re/la equilibra S ay, 1818, C. scaura Templeton, 1836, C. verrucosa Boeck, 1871; Deutella venenosa Mayer, 1890 and Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890. Cap re/la scaura, C. verrucosa and D. venenosa were most abundant among algae, hydrozoans and bryozoans growing on buoys. Cap re/la equilibra, al so present on buoys, was most abundant undemeath boulders in exposedrocky intertidal zones, where additionally D. venenosa and P. pusilla were found. Caprella scaura was dominant in plant beds above sandy subtidal bottom, especially among the alga Gracilaria chilensis and the seagrass Heterozostera tasmanica, where it occurred together with Caprellina longicollis. Paracaprella pusilla represents a new citation for the pacific coasts of S-America, being a new record for Chile. The species D. venenosa, which was recorded for the first time since the original description by Mayer in the year 1890, is considered an endemic species from the central coast of Chile.