Document of bibliographic reference 405279

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Flapjack octopods of Australia (Cephalopoda: Cirrata: Opisthoteuthidae), Part I Southern Australia

Abstract

The flapjack octopods, genus Opisthoteuthis (Opisthoteuthidae) are globally distributed deep-sea finned octopods. The Opisthoteuthis fauna of many regions remains poorly understood, and members of this genus from Australian waters have been little studied. Herein, Australian Opisthoteuthis from southern and southeastern Australia, including Macquarie Island, were assessed using museum specimens, with comparisons made to other species traditionally allocated to this genus. Based on configuration of male enlarged suckers it is proposed that the genus be split into three genera, including the two new genera Insigniteuthis gen. nov. and Exsuperoteuthis gen. nov., and the genus Opisthoteuthis ‘sensu stricto’ be restricted to species sharing a similar pattern of male enlarged suckers with the type species O. agassizii. Redescriptions are provided for the two Opisthoteuthis previously known from Australian waters, O. pluto and E. persephone comb. nov. Two new species are described, O. kerberos sp. nov. from five specimens collected at 2 km depth off southeastern Australia, significantly deeper in bathymetric range than the other Australian taxa, and I. obscura sp. nov. from southeastern Australia and the Great Australian Bight. Description is also provided for a species from Macquarie Island, Australian Antarctic Territories, that may be comparable to the New Zealand O. chathamensis.

Bibliographic citation

Verhoeff, T.J. (2024). Flapjack octopods of Australia (Cephalopoda: Cirrata: Opisthoteuthidae), Part I Southern Australia. Australian Journal of  Taxonomy 68: 1-44. https://dx.doi.org/10.54102/ajt.wij3l

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true