Phylogeography of hydrothermal vent stalked barnacles: a new species fills a gap in the Indian Ocean 'dispersal corridor' hypothesis.

ABSTRACT: Phylogeography of animals provides clues to processes governing their evolution and diversification. The Indian Ocean has been hypothesized as a 'dispersal corridor' connecting hydrothermal vent fauna of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Stalked barnacles of the family Eolepadidae are common associates of deep-sea vents in Southern, Pacific and Indian oceans, and the family is an ideal group for testing this hypothesis. Here, we describe Neolepas marisindica sp. nov. from the Indian Ocean, distinguished from N. zevinae and N. rapanuii by having a tridentoid mandible in which the second tooth lacks small elongated teeth. Morphological variations suggest that environmental differences result in phenotypic plasticity in the capitulum and scales on the peduncle in eolepadids. W

SUBMITTER: Watanabe HK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5936951 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature