New xenophyophores (Protista) from the bathyal and abyssal north-east Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Eight species of xenophyophores, seven of them new, are described from epibenthic sledge material collected in the north-east Atlantic by the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences. A new genus is established for two of the new species, Homogammina lamina and H. maculosa. The other five new species are Galatheammina discoveryi, G. microconcha, Psammina delicata, P. fusca and P. sabulosa. The eighth species is Reticulammina labyrinthica Tendal, 1972, first described from the south-west Pacific. The material considerably expands knowledge of north-east Atlantic xenophyophores, emphasizes the dominance in this area of the order Psamminida, and suggests a considerable degree of endemism. All specimens are highly fragmented and it is therefore difficult to correlate the species described from the samples with those appearing in simultaneously taken bottom photographs.