 |
|
 |
| Last updated |
| 14 March 2008 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Muelleroecia macromma (Müller, G.W., 1906)
Records: 63
This is a poorly known bathypelagic species; most records of it are from subtropical and tropical latitudes,
but recent records south of Australia have extended its known range into the Southern Ocean. Described as
a Conchoecia species in Müller's rotundata group of species, it was reclassified as a
Metaconchoecia species by Poulsen (1973). Chavtur and Angel (in press) are revising Metaconchoecia,
which they consider to be a very heterogeneous assemblage of species, albeit they are clearly separated from
all the other halocyprids by the locations of the asymmetrical glands on the carapace. So they have established
a tribe, the Metaconchoeciinae, to encompass these species, while dividing them between ten genera, nine
of them novel. This species is classified with M. glandulosa in a new genus Muelleroecia, defined
by the positions of the symmetrical glands. However, they also find inconsistencies between some of the various
illustrations of specimens attributed to this species, and so have nominated four of these variants as
forms. These may prove to be merely variations within a single species, or cryptic species within a
species swarm.
|
| Tropical Atlantic |
n |
Mean mm |
s.d. |
Range mm |
| Female |
37 |
1.08 |
0.059 |
0.98-1.24 |
| Male |
37 |
1.03 |
0.048 |
0.88-1.16 |
| A-1 |
24 |
0.83 |
0.047 |
0.74-0.94 |
| A-2 |
5 |
0.64 |
0.022 |
0.62-0.68 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
