New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Short communication
Status of three Octopoda recorded from New Zealand, based on beaks recovered
from long-distance foraging marine predators
STEVE O'SHEA
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
P.O. Box 14-901 Kilbirnie
Wellington, New Zealand
Abstract An uncritical compilation of New Zealand Mollusca by
Spencer & Willan in 1996 cites 90 species of cephalopod as recorded from
New Zealand waters (excluding the Kermadec Islands) to 31 December 1993.
Seventeen of these 90 species are octopods and the status of five is in need of
immediate revision. Pareledone sp. and Octopus sp. have since
been transferred to the genera Graneledone and Benthoctopus,
respectively, although both species await description. Haliphron atlanticus
Steenstrup, 1860 (as Alloposus mollis Verrill, 1880), Ocythoe
tuberculata Rafinesque, 1814, and Octopus dofleini (Wülker,
1910) are cited as occurring within New Zealand waters solely on the basis of
identification of beaks or tissue remains from gut contents of long-distance
foraging marine predators. The appropriateness of including these three species
in the New Zealand fauna is evaluated in the light of thorough examination of
extensive cephalopod collections from New Zealand waters.
Keywords beaks; marine predators, Haliphron;
Ocythoe; Octopus; Cephalopoda; Octopoda; New Zealand
Received 16 October 1996; accepted 29 April 1997
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 1997, Vol. 24: 265-266
0301-4223/2403-0265 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (146K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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