Recent Marine Ostracods (Crustacea) around Hovgaard and Horseshoe Islands (Antarctica Peninsula)

Abstract

On the route of the II Turkish Antarctic Expedition (TAE-II) in the NW of the continent of Antarctica, twelve grab sediment samples were been collected from seven different locations at depths of -20 and -60 m between King George and Horseshoe islands in NW Antarctica. The collected samples consist of greenish gray silty clay and fine sandy silt, as well as brownish gray sandy silty clay units containing fine gravel grains. In the Hovgaard and Horseshoe islands, six genera and six species of ostracods were identified: Copytus caligula Skogsberg, Austrotrachyleberis antarctica (Neale), Australicy there devexa (Muller), Cativella bensoni Neale, Cytheropteron acuticaudatum Hartmann and Loxoreticulatum fallax (Maller). The species are cryophilic endemic ostracods. When the fossil and current findings are compared, Austrotrachyleberis antarctica, which has been known since the Oligocene, migrated from Antarctica to South America and Cativella bensoni migrated from South America to Antarctica.