The deep sea is the largest benthic habitat, but studying the ecology of deep-sea organisms presents many challenges. These habitats can be very rich in diversity but difficulties in observing and collecting animals at great depths strongly hinders study of their ecology. Further, many deep-sea organisms, especially the small-bodied marine invertebrates that dominate this habitat, remain undescribed. To study the ecology of deep-sea organisms, we must first characterize the biodiversity in these regions and identify species distributions. One of the most understudied groups of deep-sea marine invertebrates is the aplacophoran molluscs. Aplacophorans are shell-less, worm-shaped molluscs that inhabit benthic marine habitats around the world. Fewer than 500 species of aplacophorans have been described to date but the true number of species is estimated to be tenfold higher. This is in part because simply identifying most aplacophorans to the genus and species level requires characterization of internal anatomical structures, such as the radula, ventral foregut glands, and reproductive organs using histology. Oceania is one of the most understudied areas in the world with respect to aplacophoran biodiversity. In particular, there are only three described species of aplacophorans from New Zealand. In order to improve our understanding of the biodiversity of New Zealand Aplacophora, and the biodiversity of New Zealand as a whole, we have been studying collections of specimens from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarwera using histology, light microscopy, DNA barcoding, and scanning electron microscopy to identify and describe these species. Further, to investigate the environmental factors that may be driving aplacophoran species distributions, GIS mapping is then used to visualize species distributions in comparison to habitat conditions and marine protected areas.
Results/Conclusions
We will present preliminary data from the characterization completed thus far. After grouping the collection into morphospecies, there are at least 10 caudofoveates and 12 solenogasters, most of which are new to science. These include the new species, Proneomenia taniwha, Dorymenia ancora and Proneomeniidae sp. indet. We will also present maps made in ArcMap to display our current understanding of aplacophoran distribution around New Zealand and use known variables, like depth, to model where species are most likely to occur.