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The linnaean society journal Journal of Zoology, an internationally renowned zoology journal, published the latest research results on the taxonomy and phylogenetics of marine organisms at the Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences online.
Using morphological taxonomy and molecular systematics methods, the researchers studied species from the two general families of squat lobster collected from four seamounts near the Yap Trench and the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, and found and described 11 new species, namely The Origami shrimp Europtychodes yapensis, the origami shrimp Europtychus faxianae, and the Origami shrimp Europtychus liui , Mariana origami shrimp Uroptychus marianica, transparent origami shrimp Europtychus transparens, marine heterocera shrimp Sternostylus iocasus, soft burr shrimp Munida pubescens, rose thorny shrimp Munida rosea, special-shaped barbed shrimp Munidopsis dispar, Guo Chuan munidopsis Guochuani and the scientific pseudo-spiny shrimp Munidopsis kexueae.
Armor shrimp are one of the most diverse groups of crustaceans in the deep sea. Previous studies have found that in seamount ecological environments, armor shrimp are a common or dominant species in benthic ecological communities. However, due to survey conditions, the diversity of armored shrimp in the seamounts surrounding the Yappou Trench and Mariana Trench in the tropical western Pacific Ocean is still little known. From 2014 to 2019, the Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a number of seamount ecological surveys in the sea area and collected a large number of armor shrimp biological samples, through the morphological classification and molecular systematics of 46 specimen individuals, a total of 26 species were found, belonging to 2 general families, 5 families, and 8 genera, including 11 new species, and the proportion of new species reached more than 40%, revealing that armor shrimp have high biodiversity in these seamount environments, and also shows the lack of biological understanding of this sea area.
Among the 11 new species, the Heterocepon shrimp of the Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was named to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The two armored shrimp named after the characters, Liu's folded tail shrimp and Guo Chuan's pseudo-thorned armor shrimp, commemorate Liu Ruiyu, a pioneer of Chinese crustacean zoology and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Guo Chuan, a navigator.
This study found many strange-looking armored shrimp, such as the new species of transparent folded-tailed shrimp, the background color of the armored shrimp in seamounts is mainly orange-red or orange-yellow, and the transparent fold-tailed shrimp is transparent throughout, which is very rare in armored shrimp. The Guochuan pseudo-spiny shrimp has "non-mainstream" slender clawed feet and rows of spines on the back, and in situ observations have found it clinging to the hydra, a habitat trait that has been recorded for the first time in the genus Pseudo-tungsten shrimp.
The study also found that while a total of 26 species were found on four seamounts, only 5 species appeared in two or more seamount survey areas, four of which lived in environments up to 1200 meters deep. This result suggests that deeper benthic organisms may have a wider dispersal range in the deep ocean.
Three gene marker sequences of all armor shrimp species were also provided in this study, which constructed the phylogenetic relationships between these species and similar species, and discussed the monophyleticity of some genera.
(Reporting by Bo Keguo, correspondent Wang Min, client reporter of Dazhong Newspaper and Dazhong Daily)