A new deep-sea Psammogammarus species (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Eriopisidae) from the continental slope of the SE Gulf of Mexico

ABSTRACT

A new deep-sea species of amphipod collected at a depth of 1317 m from the soft bottom of the Bay of Campeche, SW Gulf of Mexico, is herein described. The sediment included a high proportion of silt and organic carbon. The specimen examined in this study was collected during the Oceanographic Expedition Xcambó-4, along the Bay of Campeche, aboard the RV Justo Sierra. The new species represents the sixteenth known species of the genus Psammogammarus worldwide. This new species is the second Psammogammarus recorded from the deep sea, and the first record of the genus for the Gulf of Mexico. Identification keys to males and females of Psammogammarus species are provided. Psammogammarus barrerai sp. nov. is characterised by head with anteroventral notch present; gnathopods 1 and 2 palmar margins oblique, and basis of pereopod 7 forming a wide serrated posterior lobe.

www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C843777B-FF15-4AEC-B046-6513A96A9BFF

KEYWORDS:

• Amphipoda
• deep-sea
• new species
• soft bottom
• Bay of Campeche

Acknowledgements

The biological material used in this study comes from the ‘Programa de Monitoreo Ambiental del sur del Golfo de México’, carried out jointly by ‘PEMEX Exploración y Producción, Regiones Marinas’ and ‘Cinvestav Unidad Mérida’. Thanks are due to María Teresa Herrera-Dorantes (Laboratory of Benthos, Cinvestav) for her support in field sampling and laboratory procedures.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.