The MUSORSTOM-TDSB deep-sea benthos exploration programme (1976-2012): An overview of crustacean discoveries and new perspectives on deep-sea zoology and biogeography

Abstract

In 1976, the French research vessel “Vauban” was scheduled to travel from France to New Caledonia. rough the efforts of Alain Crosnier (Director of the Oceanography, ORSTOM), it was decided that the craft take a detour through the Philippines —this became the first MUSORSTOM cruise. e principal objective of this cruise was to find new specimens of the living fossil glypheid Neoglyphea inopinata described one year earlier by Jacques Forest and Michèle de Saint Laurent from a single specimen collected by the U.S. Fish Commission Steamer research vessel “Albatross” in the begining of the 20th century (Forest 1981, 2006; Richer de Forges & Justine 2006; Bouchet et al. 2008). is first French deep-sea cruise in the Indo-West Pacific was a great success for two reasons. Firstly, nine fresh specimens of Neoglyphea inopinata were collected near Lubang island in a very small area (Figure 1A). e detailed description of this only extant species of glypheid contributed significantly to our knowledge on the evolution of decapod crustaceans (Schram & Ahyong 2002). Secondly, the trawls in the Philippine archipelago also collected a very rich benthic fauna including many rare and new species, demonstrating that the exploration of the deep-sea fauna was far from complete.In the last quarter of the 20th century, our knowledge of the deep-sea fauna was mainly based on the results of the so-called “Great Expeditions” of preceding decades. ese expeditions, which took place in the era between the CHALLENGER in 1873 and the GALATHEA in 1952, sampled the oceans on a world-wide scale. ey studied and mapped the geography and bathymetry of the sea, and brought up a totally new fauna, resulting in the re-writing of marine zoology (omson 1878; Bruun 1953). However, despite their many significant discoveries, these expeditions only sampled about 1000 deep-sea stations across the planet. Considering the size of Earth’s oceans, huge areas remained totally unexplored.