Laevilacunaria antarctica (E. von Martens, 1885 )

35. Laevilacunaria antarctica (E. von Martens, 1885) View in CoL [ Figs 14A–C View FIGURE 14 ]

Lacuna antarctica E. von Martens, 1885: 92 View in CoL

Material examined. • 4 spms, Stn. 2; • 2 spms, Stn. 4; • 3 spms, Stn. 14.

Type locality. South Georgia.

Bathymetric distribution. 0–100 m.

Substrate. Hard and soft bottoms, often grazing on macroalgae.

Geographical distribution. ANTARCTICA: Antarctic Peninsula. SUBANTARCTICA: -. SCOTIA ARC: South Georgia, South Orkney Islands, South Shetland Islands. SOUTH AMERICA: -.

Remarks. We found this species from the intertidal zone down to 70 m. The species is already known from Maxwell and Admiralty Bays. For Antarctic Peninsula beds it is one of the most common epibenthic species on the red algae Gigartina ( Rosenfeld et al. 2017) . Laevilacunaria bennetti ( Preston, 1916) is a similar species that also has a similar distribution pattern and is also found at King George Island. Laevilacunaria antarctica has a broad umbilicus, which is much more pronounced than those in L. bennetti .

References. Arnaud et al. (1986), Rauschert (1991), Engl (2012), Aghmich et al. (2016), Aldea et al. (2016), Rosenfeld et al. (2017), Schmider-Martínez et al. (2023), Gonzáles-Wevar et al. (2024).