Atlas of Atlantic Ostracods
Taxon details
Metaconchoecia discoveryi (Gooday, 1981)
- Order:
- MYODOCOPA
- Suborder:
- Halocypridina
- Family:
- Halocyprididae
- Subfamily:
- Conchoecinae
- Size range (females):
- 1.0-1.2 mm
- Size range (males):
- 1.0-1.1 mm
- Depth:
- meso-/bathypelagic
Notes
135 records
When Müller (1891) first described Conchoecia rotundata he noted that there were long and short forms. Iles (1953) split the two forms of C. rotundata naming the short form C. teretivalvata and the long form C. skogsbergi, nominating Skogsberg’s (1920) description of the long form as the type description. However, Skogsberg’s species was far larger than the many ‘long forms’ that occur in the Atlantic. Granata and Caporiacco (1949) proposed the genus Metaconchoecia for Muller’s ‘rotundata’ group but this name was slow to catch on because the group was so obviously heterogeneous. When Gooday (1981) revised the ‘skogsbergi’ complex he described eight new species, including M. discoveryi. Chavtur and Angel are revising the genus Metaconchoecia by creating a tribe, the Metaconchoecinae, which consists of ten genera. M. discoveryi is retained as a Metaconchoecia species. Its latitudinal range is 64°N to 32°S and apart from a single record form north of New Zealand it has not been found outside the North Atlantic. The bathymetric profiles show that it is a deep mesopelagic to bathypelagic species with a range of 800-2000m. It often occurs at the same positions as fowleri but at greater depths.
| All | n | Mean mm | s.d. | Range mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8 | 1.06 | 0.037 | 1.02-1.14 |
| Male | 5 | 1.01 | 0.020 | 0.98-1.04 |
| A-1 | 36 | 0.84 | 0.045 | 0.76-0.98 |
| A-2 | 28 | 0.65 | 0.022 | 0.62-0.72 |
| A-3 |
