Abstract
Samples of meiofauna were collected with a Multicorer during the Magellan `Victor Hensen´ Campaign of RV `Victor Hensen´ in 1994 at 62 stations along the Magellan Straits and the Beagle Channel. Seventeen samples were analysed in the framework of a larger project. Only 69 species of Harpacticoida are known from Chile so far, all of them inhabiting the littoral zone. The Magellan Campaign of RV `Victor Hensen´ provided the first opportunity to obtain sublittoral samples of meiobenthos of Chilean coasts. In these samples the Copepoda were represented by 4 of its orders: Calanoida, Cyclopoida, Poecilostomatoida and Harpacticoida, the latter exhibiting the highest abundances. Representatives of 19 harpacticoid families (6 of which are new for Chilean waters) were identified in the samples. The species found in 15 of these families belong to 28 genera of which 18 are new to the Chilean fauna. With respect to taxa composition and distribution, the following preliminary results can be presented: the number of new families and new genera for the southern tip of South America increased considerably; a relatively high similarity between the Magellan Straits/Beagle Channel and areas of corresponding northern latitudes can be observed; the Magellan Straits and Beagle Channel show considerable differences with respect to taxa composition and diversity of the harpacticoid fauna.
Highlights
Compared with the marine meiofauna of temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere, the species composition and distribution of the meiofauna in Antarctic and Subantarctic regions are still poorly known
Whereas the study of High Antarctic meiofauna and in particular of Harpacticoida (Crustacea, Copepoda) has been intensified in the last decade (e.g. Dahms, 1992a, b; Dahms and Dieckmann, 1987; Dahms et al, 1990; George, 1993; Herman and Dahms, 1992; Schminke and Dahms, 1989; Vanhove et al, 1995; Willen, 1995; 1996a, b), practically nothing is known on the meiofauna of the southern tip of South America or the Antarctic Peninsula
Among Harpacticoida the highest abundances were found in the eastern Beagle Channel, and the lowest in the northern Magellan Straits
Summary
Compared with the marine meiofauna of temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere, the species composition and distribution of the meiofauna in Antarctic and Subantarctic regions are still poorly known. For zoogeographic reasons it is very important to compare the meiofauna of the southern tip of South America with that of the Antarctic. When these two continents started separating as the last of the Gondwanian fragments approximately 30 million years ago (see Brandt, 1991; Arntz, 1996; Winkler, 1994), the Drake Passage opened and the circumpolar currents became established, which led to a significant isolation of the Antarctic continent. As regards the Harpacticoida only 69 species are known so far from Chile, having been recorded from the littoral mainly along the coast of northern and central Chile (see George, 1996). The “Magellan Campaign” of RV “Victor Hensen” in 1994 was a good opportunity to obtain material from an area poorly investigated so far, from the littoral and from the sublittoral down to several hundred metres depth
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