Studies on the Crustacea of the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies. III. Records of Marine Isopoda from Pine Cay, Fort George Cay, Water Cay, and Adjacent Waters

Abstract

Between April 1987 and April 1990, 45 species of marine isopods were collected from intertidal and subtidal habitats in the vicinity of Pine Cay, Turks and Caicos, British West Indies. Five species, Licranthura tuberculata, Mesanthura spongicola, Califanthura minuta, Stenetrium caicoensis, and Armadilloniscus stepus, are known currently only from the northeastern Turks and Caicos Islands. The Turks and Caicos collections represent considerable range extensions for many of the species collected. Four species, Apanthura cracenta, Mesanthura punctillata, Carpias triton, and Munna petronastes, known previously from the east coast of Central America (Belize), are reported for the first time since their description. This report also presents the first published records from outside of their respective type localities for Amakusanthura significa, Mexicope kensleyi, Carpias brachydactylus, Carpias serricaudus, Uromunna caribea, Stenetrium monocule, and Stenobermuda acutirostrata. The other species reported, mostly flabelliferans, appear to be widely distributed in the tropical westem North Atlantic and their occurrence in the Turks and Caicos was not unexpected.