New records and two new species of Grimpoteuthis (Octopoda: Cirrata: Grimpoteuthididae) from southern Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT

New deep-sea cirrate octopuses (Octopoda: Cirrata) are reported from around Australia and New Zealand. The limited collections comprise three species, one that is for the first time reported from Australian waters, and one from each of Australia and New Zealand that we deem to be new to science. Taxonomic instability and regional taxonomic novelty preclude the unambiguous attribution of any species to genus. While we consider no species to be sibling, or even closely related, each is attributed to Grimpoteuthis: G. greeni n. sp., based on three specimens from southern Australia; G. angularis n. sp., based on a single specimen from New Zealand; and the first male specimen of G. abyssicola O’Shea, 1999, formerly known from the central Tasman Sea, which we describe and extend the distribution of into Australian waters. Relationships between these taxa and others provisionally attributed to the Grimpoteuthididae O’Shea, 1999 are evaluated and based primarily on the morphology of the shell, and secondarily on that of the gill, we propose a preliminary division of Grimpoteuthis sensu lato into three sensu lato morphologies.

Publication LSID: lsid:http://zoobank.org:pub:92ACA16A-CB40-4254-BF7A-EAB25977AA92

KEYWORDS:

• Cephalopoda
• systematics
• new species
• octopus
• Opisthoteuthis
• Cryptoteuthis
• Luteuthis
• abyssal
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery collections and research facility for graciously permitting the volunteer work that resulted in this paper. Dr Kirrily Moore (collection manager, Invertebrate Zoology) and Dr Simon Grove (senior curator, Invertebrate Zoology) are thanked for their encouragement and support. Di Moyle (honorary curator, TMAG) is also thanked for her invaluable help with stacking photography equipment and software. Specimens of G. innominata were provided from the NIWA Invertebrate Collection and collected during NIWA fisheries surveys funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries. We thank Sadie Mills, collection manager at the NIWA Invertebrate Collection for help with specimen loans, including photography of the G. innominata paratype and the G. abyssicola holotype. Thanks also to Diana Macpherson, marine biology technician at NIWA, for her assistance. Darren Stevens (fisheries scientist, NIWA) is thanked for having made preliminary identifications of NIWA material that allowed us to identify specimens to loan, as well as permitting usage of his deck photography of G. angularis n. sp. Melbourne Museum staff Mr Chris Rowley (collection manager, Marine Invertebrates) and Dr Julian Finn (senior curator, Marine Invertebrates) generously processed specimen loans despite repeated closures of their institution due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Thanks, also must be given to staff at the BMNH, Mr Jonathan Ablett (Senior Curator of Mollusca) for examining specimens and Mr Kevin Webb for providing excellent photography, whose assistance we were most fortunate to secure before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–21. Additionally, Dr Philippe Bouchet kindly enabled access to collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle to one of us (SOS) during these trying times to examine their collections. Karen Gowlett-Holmes, CSIRO, kindly permitted usage of her deck photography for G. abyssicola. Finally, we thank two reviewers (Dr Alexander Ziegler and one anonymous) for their constructive comments on this manuscript which have improved its clarity.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).