| Only one species of Tanaidacea, Expina typica, has been hitherto reported as an endosymbiont; it was recovered from the body cavity of deep-sea holothurians. During a survey of the deepsea benthic community in the Florida Straits off the Bahamas, Terebellatanais floridanus, a new genus and species of a tanaidomorphan tanaidacean was recovered at a depth of 545 m from the oral cavity of the terebellid polychaete Biremis blandi. Terebellatanais gen. nov. is tentatively assigned to the family Mirandotanaidae, as it appears to have affinities with Mirandotanais and Pooreotanais but also with Expina. It is distinguished from these genera by a unique combination of characters, including four antennular and antennal articles, a naked endite of the maxillipedal... |
