“By any other name”: The saga of Bairdia bradyi van den Bold, 1957 in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, with eight new species of Bairdoppilata (Ostracoda, Podocopida)

The substitute name Bairdia bradyi applies only to a species living in New Caledonia, which has not been reported since its original description as Bairdia foveolata in1868. Although for a time B. bradyi was widely identified in the Caribbean region and Gulf of Mexico, those reports are taxonomically heterogeneous, applying to at least eight different species in three genera. Nevertheless, repetition of this misidentification contributed to its general acceptance, providing a taxonomic example of the Illusory Truth Effect. Here, eight new species of Bairdoppilata are described from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, some of which were formerly reported as B. bradyi: Ba. collaevata sp. nov., Ba. diatreta sp. nov., Ba. fimbriata sp. nov., Ba. fithianae sp. nov., Ba. floreana sp. nov., Ba. hypsiliformis sp. nov., Ba. sima sp. nov., and Ba. thyreoides sp. nov. Collectively, these species of the Bairdoppilata fithianae species group share a caudate outline and a minutely punctate exterior, but each species is distinguished by carapace size and shape, marginal details, and opaque patch pattern. Beneath the punctate surface of the carapace wall, the muri are supported by walls of loosely piled granules in a honeycomb pattern, located at the top of the calcified layer. The opaque patch pattern resides deeper, probably in the laminar layer just over the adductor muscle scars, and neither is expressed on the exterior.