UC San Diego

Nine furcilia and the early juvenile phase of the deep-sea euphausiid Thysanopoda egregia Hansen, 1905 are described and illustrated for the first time. This identification of the bathypelagic species is made on the basis of the very large, well-developed and dark-brown eyes, short sixth pleomere, large body size relative to stage of development, ripple-like sculpturing of the posterior and lateral parts of the carapace, and the number of terminal telson spines in the first five stages, F1-F5. The ripple marks on the carapace are a particularly distinctive characteristic of T. egregia. Because of the rarity of the nauplius, metanauplius, and calyptopis phases for this species and the unknown identification of the other three deep-living species of Thysanopoda, we are not yet able to positively identify these phases with confidence and that information is not presented here. A distribution map of records of furciliae of T. egregia from our samples and published sources corresponds with the previously described distribution of the adults, showing a cosmopolitan distribution in waters mainly equator-ward of the subpolar ocean provinces. © The Crustacean Society, 2013. Published by Brill NV, Leiden.