Marine Ostracoda (Crustacea) from New Caledonia: taxonomy of lagoonal and shallow-marine hydrothermal communities

This contribution is the first part of a two-part analysis of ostracod assemblages from shallow-water hydrothermal vents through geological time. To establish a robust taxonomic framework for this comparative investigation, we here revisit material from the southern and southwestern parts of New Caledonia, including the Prony Bay Hydrothermal Field, housed in the micropaleontology collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris). This material comprises specimens published by Vespasian Apostolescu as well as bulk sediment samples collected by Pierre Laboute that have remained unexamined until now. This analysis documents the occurrence of 63 species, seven of which are recorded from New Caledonia for the first time. We describe six new species: Auradilus mediumiugum Forel sp. nov., Ponticocythereis impressionista Forel sp. nov., Callistocythere angelina Forel sp. nov., Loxoconcha charbonnieri Forel sp. nov., Loxoconcha venenosa Forel sp. nov., and Gambiella? toxica Forel & Bergue sp. nov., the latter two currently known only from the Prony Bay Hydrothermal Field. We emend three species originally described at the end of the 19th century, whose illustrations and descriptions left certain taxonomic ambiguities: Adencythere torticollis (Brady, 1890) emend., Loxoconchella honoluliensis (Brady, 1880) emend. (type species of the genus), and Lankacythere scotti (Brady, 1890) emend.