''A. aldrichi'' is a small

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of squid found in northern Australian waters. The species was described by Chung Cheng Lu in 2005 based on specimens collected in the inshore waters of

Northern Australia The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Queensland that lie p ...

. The largest known individual of this species is a mature female measuring in mantle length (ML). The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

is a mature male of ML. A live specimen of ''A. aldrichi'' has yet to be recorded. ''A. aldrichi'' is a member of the class Cephalopoda and part of the subclass Coleodia. Within this class there are two orders, the Myopsida and Oegopsida, which both fall under the superorder Decapodiformes. ''A. aldrichi'' falls under the order of Myospida, and is the only member of its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

, ''Australiteuthis,'' and family, Australiteuthidae.

Order

The Myopsida order is made up of two families, the ''Australiteuthidae'' and ''Loliginidae.'' The squid which fall under the order of Myopsida are nertic squid that typically dwell in shallow waters and appear in large schools. Within the family of ''Loliginidae'', species such as the ''

Loligo forbesii ''Loligo forbesii'' (sometimes erroneouslyBouchet, P. and S. Gofas. (2013)''Loligo forbesi'' Steenstrup, 1856.World Register of Marine Species. Accessed 5 June 2013. spelled ''forbesi''), known commonly as the veined squid and long-finned squid, ...

'', also known as the veined and long-finned squid, may reach sizes up to in mantle length. ''A. aldrichi'', however, are much more similar in size to members of the genus Pickfordiateuthis, more commonly known as dwarf squid, as males of the ''A. aldrichi'' species have been observed to reach in mantle length at a fully mature state.

Characteristics of Myopsida

Members of the Myopsida order exhibit the following characteristics: # Arms and tentacles that contain circular muscles. # Tentacles that are clubbed without a proximal locking-apparatus. # The head contains tentacle pockets. # The eyes contain a corneal membrane covering lens instead of a secondary eyelid. # A funnel that does not contain adductor muscles. # A mantle which contains a mantle locking apparatus. # A shell underneath the mantle. # Viscera and gills with a branchial canal. # Eggs that contain a large external yolk sac.

Habitat

Documented locations of Australiteuthis in Australia

Specimens of ''A. aldrich'' have been found in the

Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a large body of water off the coast of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and part of the Timor Sea. It was named after Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and King of Naples (1806-1808) and then Spain (1808 ...

of Western Australia, the inshore waters of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

of Australia as well as the

Gulf of Papua The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of . Geography Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow ...

in New Guinea. (PNG). It has been theorized that the species may live along the coastal regions in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The species has never been found alive and is only known from a handful of specimens collected in these areas. These ''A. aldrichi'' specimens were collected at depths between to by fishermen using beam trawls. It has also been speculated that the species may be a benthic squid but it is not yet truly known.Jereb, P., Roper, C.F.E. & Vecchione, M. (2010). Family Australiteuthidae. P. Jereb & C.F.E. Roper, eds. Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 2. Myopsid and Oegopsid Squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 2. Rome, FAO. pp. 35-37. http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i1920e/i1920e.pdf

Biology

''A. aldrichi'' have been found at depths ranging from to and are speculated to live within the benthic zone. From the specimens collected, mature males may have a mantle length of and mature females may have a mantle length of over .http://tolweb.org/Australiteuthis_aldrichi/52671/2005.09.20 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/ The species has large, separate, round fins with free anterior and posterior lobes as well as a large dumbbell-shaped photophore. Other biological features of the species include a deep tentacular pocket, tricuspid rachidial teeth, a lack of aquiferous pores in the cornea, eyes covered with a transparent cornea, and a photophore on the ink sac. The species is classified in the order Myopsida because of its shared characteristic of a corneal membrane.

References

External Links

Tree of Life web project: ''Australiteuthis aldrichi''''Australiteuthis aldrichi'': Description continued
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2182667 Squid Monotypic mollusc genera Cephalopods