Discovery of Neonrosellavitiata (Darwin) and Newmanellaspinosus Chan & Cheang (Balanomorpha, Tetraclitidae) from the Andaman Sea, eastern Indian Ocean

Abstract

Abstract

In this present study, distantly related acorn barnacle species in the subfamily Newmanellinae ( Cirripedia , Thoracica , Tetraclitidae ), including Neonrosella vitiata (Darwin, 1854) and Newmanella spinosus Chan & Cheang, 2016, were discovered in the Andaman Sea of Thailand. Neo. vitiata can be readily distinguished from other newmanellids by shell plate and operculum morphology (external shell, tergum geometry, and pattern of parietal tube) and arthropodal characters (presence of basi-dorsal point at base of penis and triangular spines on cirri, setal type, and mouth parts). Both species were found to share overlapping territories on rocks at the rockweed zone, an area submerged under seawater most of the time throughout the year. This study highlights the first discovery of Neonrosella in the eastern Indian Ocean, whose ultrastructure compared to Newmanella is redescribed and illustrated here based on scanning electron microscopy.