The occurrence of the parasitic amphipod Trischizostoma crosnieri Lowry & Stoddart, 1993 (Amphipoda: Amphilochidea: Lysianassida) in a methane seep site in the southeastern Pacific

Abstract

The genus Trischizostoma Boeck, 1861 is a cosmopolitan group of parasitic and symbiotic aristoidean amphipods whose distribution is poorly known, with scarce specimens reported principally from pelagic environments until 3655 m depth. In this note, Trischizostoma crosnieri Lowry & Stoddart,1993, a species described for the southwest Pacific, is recorded for the first time in the southeast Pacific. The species was known previously only from a female specimen, described from the Philippines, with two additional unpublished records from the east coast of Australia and Tasmania. The specimens studied herein were obtained at 874 m depth, 36 nm to the northwest of Concepción, Biobío Region, in a methane seep site. However, the relationship between this species with this particular habitat is still uncertain. The genus Trischizostoma has been cited for the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridges; nevertheless, our finding constitutes the first record of a species at the continental margin off Chile, raising to four the known species of the genus for Chilean waters.