Biodiversity of the deep-sea isopods, cumaceans and amphipods (Crustacea: Peracarida) recorded off the Argentine coast

Abstract

Our knowledge on the deep-sea peracarids at a global scale is limited, and this gap in knowledge is still larger when we refer to the peracarids from off the coast of Argentina. With the aim of improving this situation, a complete and accurate inventory of the deep-sea isopods, cumaceans and amphipods from off the coast of Argentina is presented. This inventory is based mainly on data taken from the literature, but some records provided in the GBIF database were included as well. A total of 126 stations taken during 24 oceanographic surveys carried out by seven countries were compiled. Isopoda showed the highest number of species (107 spp.) followed by Cumacea (50 spp.) and Amphipoda (47 spp.). A large amount of specimens, including many new species, has been collected in recent years and wait to be described. Thus, it is expected that the number of species recorded from the area substantially increase in the near future.