Neglected for over a century, Black sea spider crab re-described

Date:
September 1, 2020
Source:
Pensoft Publishers
Summary:
Even though recognized in the Mediterranean Sea, the Macropodia
czernjawskii spider crab was ignored by scientists (even by
its namesake, 19th-century biologist Vladimir Czernyavsky) in
the regional faunal accounts of the Black Sea for more than a
century. Now, scientists re- describe this, most likely, sole
species of the genus to occur in the Black Sea.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Even though recognised in the Mediterranean Sea, the Macropodia
czernjawskii spider crab was ignored by scientists (even by its namesake Vladimir Czernyavsky) in the regional faunal accounts of the Black Sea
for more than a century. At the same time, although other species of the
genus have been listed as Black sea fauna, those listings are mostly wrong
and occurred either due to historical circumstances or misidentifications.


==========================================================================
Now, scientists re-describe this, most likely, only species of the genus occurring in the Black Sea in the open-access journal Zoosystematics
and Evolution.

The spider crab genus Macropodia was discovered in 1814 and currently
includes 18 species, mostly occurring in the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean. The marine fauna of the Black Sea is predominantly of Mediterranean origin and Macropodia czernjawskii was firstly discovered
in the Black Sea in 1880, but afterwards, its presence there was largely ignored by the scientists.

After the revision of available type specimens from all available
collections in the Russian museums and the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt-on-Main, as well as newly collected material in the Black
Sea and the North-East Atlantic, a research team of scientists, led by
Dr Vassily Spiridonov from Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian
Academy of Sciences, re-described Macropodia czernjawskii and provided
the new data on its records and updated its ecological characteristics.

"The analysis of the molecular genetic barcode (COI) of the available
material of Macropodia species indicated that M. czernjawskii is a very distinct species while M. parva should be synonimised with M. rostrata,
and M. longipes is a synonym of M. tenuirostris," states Dr Spiridonov
sharing the details of the genus analysis.

All Macropodia species have epibiosis and M. czernjawskii is no exception: almost all examined crabs in 2008-2018 collections had significant
epibiosis.

It normally consists of algae and cyanobacteria and, particularly, a
non- indigenous species of red alga Bonnemaisonia hamifera, officially
reported in 2015 at the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea, was found in
the epibiosis of M.

czernjawskii four years earlier.

"It improves our understanding of its invasion history. Museum and
monitoring collections of species with abundant epibiosis (in particular inachid crabs) can be used as an additional tool to record and monitor introduction and establishments of sessile non-indigenous species,"
suggests Dr Spiridonov.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Pensoft_Publishers. The original
story is licensed under a Creative_Commons_License. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Bee Yan Lee, Bertrand Richer De Forges, Peter K. L. Ng. Revision
of the
deep-water spider crab genus, Scyramathia A. Milne-Edwards, 1880,
with the description of a new species from the Mediterranean and
notes on Rochinia A. Milne-Edwards, 1875, and Anamathia Smith,
1885 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura, Epialti. Zoosystematics and
Evolution, 2020; 96 (2): 537 DOI: 10.3897/zse.96.48041 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200901120731.htm

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