Description of a new species of deep-sea squid genus Taningia (Cephalopoda: Octopoteuthidae) from the Arabian Sea

Sajikumar, K K and Sasikumar, Geetha and Ameri, Shijin and Thomas, Toji (2025) Description of a new species of deep-sea squid genus Taningia (Cephalopoda: Octopoteuthidae) from the Arabian Sea. Marine Biodiversity, 55. pp. 1-12. ISSN 1867-1616

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Abstract

A new species of the genus Taningia Joubin, 1931 (family Octopoteuthidae Berry, 1912), is described from the southeastern Arabian Sea, based on a single specimen collected in March 2024 at a depth of 390 m. This new species, Taningia silasii sp. nov., differs from congeners in a combination of traits, including the shape of the funnel-mantle locking cartilage, nuchal-locking cartilage, lower beak morphology, gill lamellae count, and distinct genetic divergence as revealed by phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA genes, with uncorrected p-distances of 11.8–12.1% (COI) and 4.3–4.5% (16S rRNA) from T. danae. Phylogenetic trees clearly separate Taningia silasii sp. nov. from Atlantic Ocean lineages of T. danae, supporting its recognition as a distinct species. The genus Taningia appears to represent a species complex, comprising the newly described Indian Ocean lineage and at least two distinct lineages from the Atlantic Ocean. These findings, based on integrated morphological and molecular analyses, highlight hidden diversity within Taningia and expand the known biogeographic range of the genus.

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