A research group led by Takatomo Tsunoi, a lecturer at the School of Science, Hokkaido University, and Yuko Tanabe, a research group at the School of Science, discovered a new species of Tanaidacea crustacean from the shell of a loggerhead turtle. I named it "Tanaidacean (Japanese name)".
Many large animals are now on the verge of extinction.Loggerhead turtles are also designated as an endangered species, and various conservation efforts are being made.The shell of the loggerhead turtle is inhabited by various animals, but few studies have investigated them in detail.Since animals living on the shell of an endangered species may still be endangered, the group is conducting research on small crustaceans that live on the shell of loggerhead turtles that have landed on Yakushima for spawning. went.
Loggerhead turtles that landed on the sandy beaches of Yakushima from May to June 2016 were collected by directly picking up microscopic organisms from the shells of sea turtles or seaweeds on the shells with tweezers.Morphological observation was performed with a stereomicroscope and an optical microscope, the species name was examined, and a part of the DNA sequence was also determined.
As a result of the research, the Tanaidacea collected from the shell of the loggerhead turtle was judged to be an undescribed species included in the genus Hexapleomera. Japanese name: Urashima Tanaidacea).This is the first discovery of Tanaidacea from the North Pacific Ocean.
Paper information:[Zootaxa] Hexa pleomera urashima sp. Nov. (Crustacea: Tanaidacea), a tanaidid epibiotic onloggerhead sea turtles at Yakushima Island, Japan
