Amanda L. Reid

Australian Museum Research Institute

Nerida G. Wilson

Western Australian Museum

Published

16 October 2015

Handle

www.aucklandmuseum.com/research/pub/bulletin/20/16

Abstract

Two species of shallow-water octopuses were known to occur in the Kermadec Islands prior to the Kermadec Biodiscovery Expedition in May 2011: Callistoctopus kermadecensis (Berry, 1914) and Octopus oliveri (Berry, 1914). Representatives of both these species were collected during the expedition. Although O. oliveri is relatively well known and described, C. kermadecensis was previously known from only a few specimens, including the two dishevelled type specimens. A mature male animal had never been seen. One adult male C. kermadecensis was collected during the expedition and is described here. In addition, four specimens (two males and two females) belonging to the O. ‘vulgaris’ species-complex were discovered and molecular data was used to examine their relationships to other taxa in the complex. A phylogenetic analysis of COIII sequences showed that these Kermadec Island specimens are grouped in a clade with other O. ‘vulgaris’ from the tropical western Pacific (including Japan and Taiwan), and represent a unique species in the O. ‘vulgaris’ species-complex. The species is described here as O. jollyorum, sp. nov. Colour images of living specimens representing all three species are included, in addition to a checklist of all cephalopods known from the Kermadec Islands.

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