Atlas of Atlantic Ostracods
Taxon details
Mikroconchoecia acuticosta (Müller, G.W., 1906)
- Order:
- MYODOCOPA
- Suborder:
- Halocypridina
- Family:
- Halocyprididae
- Subfamily:
- Conchoecinae
- Size range (females):
- 1.1-1.3 mm
- Size range (males):
- 1.1-1.2 mm
- Depth:
- epi-/mesopelagic
Notes
164 records
This species is one of the larger species in Müller’s ‘curta group’, in which he included Claus’s genus Mikroconchoecia (often mispelt After Müller (1906) had lumped all the halocyprid genera into the one super genus Conchoecia, and it was left to Poulsen (1973) to revert to Claus’s genus. At present there are four species in this genus of small rotund, highly sculptured species. These are often the numerically dominant species in halocyprid communities at epipelagic and shallow mesopelagic depths and at night in the neuston. This species is one in which there may well be cryptic species. In the Atlantic there are numerous records from between 40°N and 60°N but between 40°N and 27°S there are only a handful of dubious records. Between 27°S and 54°S there are once again numerous records. The bathymetric profiles show that this species has a shallow mesopelagic distribution and shows only a slight tendency to drift up at night. For example in late April at 53°N by day the bulk of the population occurred between 100 and 400m by day and 50-300m at night. But both by day and by night small but significant numbers of adult females were caught at all deeper depth to at least 1500m, forming a minor abundance peak at 900-1250m. Without data from a seasonal sampling programme it is not possible to interpret what such a profile might be indicating.
| 53° | n | Mean mm | s.d. | Range mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 12 | 1.14 | 0.039 | 1.10-1.22 |
| Male | 13 | 1.19 | 0.021 | 1.13-1.21 |
| A-1 | 228 | 0.81 | 0.032 | 0.74-0.86 |
| A-2 | 90 | 0.57 | 0.022 | 0.54-0.63 |
| A-3 | 19 | 0.44 | 0.020 | 0.41-0.49 |
