Browsing by Author "Reimer, James Davis"
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- Ascension Island shallow-water Zoantharia (Hexacorallia: Cnidaria) and their zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium)Publication . Reimer, James Davis; Lorion, Julien; Irei, Yuka; Hoeksema, Bert W.; Wirtz, PeterThis is the first report on the Zoantharia fauna (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia) of the isolated oceanic island of Ascension, southern Atlantic, where zoantharians are a dominant component of the shallow-water benthos. Specimens from two expeditions (1983, 2012) were examined regarding external morphology and molecular phylogeny using three DNA markers, which confirmed the presence of four zoantharian species: Palythoa caribaeorum; Palythoa aff. clavata; Parazoanthus swiftii; and Zoanthus sp. Two of these, Palythoa aff. clavata and Parazoanthus swiftii, were previously only known from the western Atlantic and Caribbean. Molecular examination of the zooxanthellae (=Symbiodinium spp.) of Palythoa specimens showed that they were in association with only one type, subclade C1.
- Conservation workshop in Okinawa: urgent action needed for land hermit crabsPublication . Hsu, Chia-Hsuan; Reimer, James Davis; Naruse, Tohru; Miller, Shawn; Henriques, SérgioOn 21 April 2025, in support of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Invertebrate Conservation Committee’s efforts to address taxonomic gaps in underrepresented regions, a workshop was held in Okinawa, Japan, bringing together researchers and stakeholders to discuss challenges in land hermit crab conservation. Recent cases of illegal trafficking of thousands of land hermit crabs from the Ryukyu Islands to Indonesia, Taiwan and China, as well as sales of Okinawaorigin crabs, are of serious concern. During the workshop, participants discussed the ecological roles, cultural values, and management of land hermit crabs, highlighted smuggling incidents and considered future actions.
- Diversity of Saint Helena Island and zoogeography of zoantharians in the Atlantic Ocean: jigsaw falling into placePublication . Santos, Maria E. A.; Wirtz, Peter; Montenegro, Javier; Kise, Hiroki; Lopez, Cataixa; Brown, Judith; Reimer, James DavisDiversity surveys in isolated sites, such as oceanic islands, provide biogeographic data that can improve our analyses and knowledge of evolutionary processes in the oceans. Zoantharians (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) are common and widespread components of shallow-water reefs, but distributional analyses are scarce for this group. In this study, we collected Zoantharia specimens from around Saint Helena Island (STH) in the mid-Atlantic and identified species using external morphology and molecular data. Moreover, we compiled and analysed the most comprehensive distributional data for zoantharian species in the subtropical and tropical Atlantic Ocean to date. Our results show eight zoantharian species in STH, which includes seven new records for STH waters. Furthermore, all families and genera of the suborder Brachycnemina recorded are widespread in the Atlantic Ocean, including at least four amphi-Atlantic species. The Caribbean is the richness centre in the Atlantic Ocean for zoantharian species, a pattern similar to that observed for many other subtropical/tropical marine taxa. However, Zoantharia may have a lower endemism rate in some areas than other common reef animals, for example zooxanthellate scleractinian corals and reef fishes. Moreover, zoantharian species have a more extensive distribution than close-related taxa such as zooxanthellate scleractinian corals and hydrocorals in the Atlantic Ocean.