Brachiopoda from the Southern Indian Ocean (Recent)

Abstract

Specimens collected from 120 stations around and between the subantarctic islands: Marion, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, Amsterdam, and St. Paul by the M/S <i>Marion Dufresne</i> with the support of Terres Australes et Antarctiques Francaises, Paris, greatly increase our knowledge of the brachiopoda of the Indian Ocean. Eighteen species are recognized that include 16 genera, 2 of them new: <i>Pemphixina and Xenobrochus; 11 new species: Basiliola arnaudi; Eucalathis magna, E. costellata, E. rotundata, Xenobrochus australis, X. anomalus; Dallithyris? dubia; Dyscolia? radiata, Platidia marionensis; Ecnomiosa inexpectata</i>, and <i>Thecidellina minuta</i>. Seven hitherto described species are recorded: <i>Pelagodiscus atlanticus</i> (King); <i>Pemphixina pyxidata</i> (Davidson); <i>Liothyrella moseleyi</i> (Davidson); <i>Megerlina davidsoni</i> (Vélain); <i>Megerlia gigantea</i> (Deshayes); <i>Aerothyris kerguelenensis</i> (Davidson), and <i>A.</i> aff. <i>A. macquariensis</i> (Thomson). Six genera, which could not be identified specifically, were also taken: <i>Crania, Basiliola, Tegulorhynchia, Eucalathis, Liothyrella</i>, and <i>Aerothyris</i>. Genera recognized in the Indian Ocean for the first time are: <i>Tegulorhynchía, Basiliola</i>, and <i>Ecnomiosa</i>, the last hitherto known only from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.