Ascidians collected during the Spanish Antarctic expedition CIEMAR 99/00 in the Bransfield and Gerlache Straits

Abstract

During the Spanish expedition CIEMAR 99/00, on board the BIO‐Hespérides, 30 species of ascidians (distributed in 13 genera and eight families) were collected using a rock dredge in the Bransfield and Gerlache straits. Most of them were already known, but one species, Tetrazona ciemari sp. nov., is new for science. Additional morphological data are provided for six species. Five are reported for only the second time and the known distributions of five species are extended.

Keywords:

• Ascidiacea
• Bransfield Strait
• Gerlache Strait
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

This paper is a result of the CIEMAR Project sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. We thank Dr Juan Bellas and Dr Gonzalo Macho for their field assistance, all scientists participating in the CIEMAR survey for their support, and the officers, crew and UTM technicians of RV Hespérides for their invaluable help. We wish also to acknowledge the assistance of Dr Françoise Monniot (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris) in identification of doubtful specimens. This study was financed by a pre‐doctoral fellowship to C. Primo from Xunta de Galicia.