Three new occurrences of Sergestidae (Dendrobranchiata) for the Southwestern Atlantic slope (13-22 S)

The Family Sergestidae includes 97 species and six genera. Sergestes H. Milne Edwards, 1830, and Sergia Stimpson, 1860, occur only in the deep sea. The genus Sergestes is represented in Brazilian waters by four species: Sergestes armatus Kroyer, 1855; S. atlanticus H. Milne Edwards, 1830; S. arachnipodus (Cocco, 1832); and S. edwardsii Kroyer, 1855. The genus Sergia is represented by two species: Sergia prehensilis (Bate, 1888) and S. regalis (Gordon, 1839). Three new occurrences of Sergestidae were recorded: Sergestes paraseminudus Crosnier and Forest, 1973; Sergia burukovskii Vereshchaka, 2000; and S. tenuiremis (Kroyer, 1855). The material examined was collected by the REVIZEE Program from the central Brazilian coast in depths from 200 to 2200 m. This paper presents the redescription of these species and figure them. been considered as a subgenus, or as a synonym of Sergestes (Burkenroad, 1945; Kensley, 1971). Vereshchaka (1994) considered Sergia as valid, redescribing 10 species with material from the Car-ibbean Sea and North Atlantic. Further, Vereshchaka (2000) made a complete review of Sergia, redescribing the 28 known species and add-ing six new ones. In his work, the genus was di-vided into nine systematic groups adopted in the present study. As the species of Sergia and Sergestes are very similar to each other, the petasma is one of the fundamental structures for identification within these genera. Characters of the thelycum are less infor-mative, which makes females identification diffi-cult. Thus, other characters of the carapace and outer antennular flagellum are important in the fe-male identification. The present work redescribes three species that are new records for the Southwestern Atlantic: Sergestes paraseminudus (Crosnier and Forest, 1973); Sergia burukovskii Vereshchaka, 2000; and Sergia tenuiremis (Kroyer, 1855).