Atlas of Atlantic Ostracods
Taxon details
Kyrtoecia kyrtophora (Müller, G.W., 1906)
- Order:
- MYODOCOPA
- Suborder:
- Halocypridina
- Family:
- Halocyprididae
- Subfamily:
- Conchoecinae
- Size range (females):
- 0.8-0.9 mm
- Size range (males):
- 0.7-0.8 mm
- Depth:
- epi-/mesopelagic
Notes
100 records
This species was one of Muller’s ‘rotundata group’, which Poulsen (1973) reclassified under Metaconchoecia. Chavtur and Angel (in press) in their current revision of the genus Metaconchoecia are placing it in a new monospecific genus Kyrtoecia. Angel (1981) showed that one of Müller’s original figures had been mislabelled, which had lead to a widespread confusion between it and Nasoecia nasotuberculata. This species has no tubercle in the posterior dorsal corner of the carapace and when viewed ventrally there is a clear break in the curvature of the lateral profile posterior to the shoulder vaults. Whereas in N. nasotuberculata, the carapace curves smoothly in viewed aspect, and in the females there are large lateral tubercles near the posterior dorsal corner. The males of kyrtophora are readily distinguished by the armature on the main e-seta on the first antenna, which consists of alternating spines that are set at right angles to the main shaft (most of the other species in the tribe have pairs of spines that lie parallel to the seta pointing basally). In the North Atlantic, the northern boundary of this species’s range is approximately along 32°N, whereas in the south-west Atlantic Deevey reported it as far south as 40°S. Recently Chavtur (2003) reported it occurring even further south at 65°S to the south of Australia; are these records of the same species? The absence of records from most of the Indian and Pacific Oceans is probably an artefact; this small species is easily overlooked if only small aliquots of samples are analysed. Profiles in the Atlantic show that on the equator, its bathymetric range is confined to the shallow mesopelagic (50-400m) and it does not undertake diel vertical migrations, but it has very occasionally been taken in neuston samples.
| Equator | n | Mean mm | s.d. | Range mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 118 | 0.81 | 0.021 | 0.76-0.86 |
| Male | 67 | 0.77 | 0.020 | 0.72-0.82 |
| A-1 | 35 | 0.66 | 0.023 | 0.62-0.72 |
| A-2 |
| 11°N | n | Mean mm | s.d. | Range mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 112 | 0.85 | 0.019 | 0.80-0.93 |
| Male | 80 | 0.80 | 0.018 | 0.75-0.85 |
| A-1 | 15 | 0.69 | 0.017 | 0.68-0.73 |
| A-2 |
