Kelly, M.; Mills, S. Terezow, M.G.; Sim-Smith, C.; Nelson, W. 2023 The marine biota of Aotearoa New Zealand : updating our marine biodiversity memoir. Wellington, NZ: NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research). NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 136. 250 p.
Abstract
Over twenty years have passed since the first inventory of Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity was initiated, within the global millennial project, Species 2000 New Zealand. This immense undertaking culminated in the publication of three volumes reviewing New Zealand’s entire known inventory of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms, covering all life in all environments, from the Cambrian to the present day (Gordon (Ed.) 2009, 2010, 2012). The impetus to update the inventory of New Zealand’s marine biodiversity came in the year 2020, effectively two decades after the New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity was conceived, and coinciding with the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity (WCMB), held in Auckland in December 2020. Over the ensuing three years, sixty-five taxonomic experts from various national and overseas institutions revised and updated the inventory of their marine groups of interest, and summarised the status of knowledge on these taxa, to the date of publication. The geographic scope includes the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the wider New Zealand region encompassing the outer limits of the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) and surrounding International Waters, occurring between 25° S and 56° 30’ S, and 158° E and 170° W. Introduction Wendy A. Nelson Aotearoa New Zealand is situated in the South Pacific region, the largest ocean space in the world, home to many varied ecosystems, and covering almost one third of the Earth. For a relatively small country, New Zealand has a long coastline (ca. 20,500 km including mainland and offshore islands), and jurisdiction over a very large area of sea (Fig. 1). The New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) are approximately 21 times the New Zealand landmass above water (Environment Foundation 2018). The Inventory of New Zealand Biodiversity, presented in the Gordon (Ed.) (2009, 2010, 2012) volumes, was a global ‘first’ in its scope. A decade on, the present volume updates the inventory for the marine biota, and provides an opportunity to evaluate the progress we have made in discovering and documenting our flora and fauna. The discovery, characterisation and naming of New Zealand’s marine biota provides the framework for understanding life in our coastal and extensive marine zone, enabling us to manage and protect our resources. This volume contributes to international biodiversity initiatives e.g., the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011–2020), and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). Science generated by the taxonomic community is essential for progress on these goals. Within New Zealand there have been two major strategic reviews in the past decade focused on taxonomy. The Royal Society Te Apārangi carried out a deThirty-three chapters review and update the inventory of a range of marine phyla including: OpisthokontaHolozoa (choanoflagellates and holozoan parasites); Kingdom Chromista (phyla Foraminifera and Ochrophyta); Kingdom Plantae (phyla Prasinodermatophyta, Chlorophyta, and Rhodophyta); Kingdom Animalia (phyla Acanthocephala, Annelida, Arthropoda (Crustacea, Insecta, and Pycnogonida), Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Chordata (Ascidiacea, Appendicularia, Aves, Mammalia, Reptilia, Thaliacea, and marine fishes), Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Dicyemida, Echinodermata, Gastrotricha, Gnathostomulida, Kinorhyncha, Loricifera, Mollusca, Nematoda, Nemertea, Phoronida, Platyhelminthes, Porifera, Priapulida, Rotifera, Tardigrada, and Xenacoelomorpha). Of the 73 taxonomic groups reviewed in Gordon (Ed.) (2009, 2010, 2012), 28 groups have not been formally reviewed in this volume. This is because several groups are beyond the general scope of this work (marine), being entirely terrestrial or freshwater inhabitants, or being single-celled (Foraminifera and Opisthokonta Holozoa excepted). For some groups, there are still no marine species recorded from the New Zealand region, and for others, no one was available to provide an update. Minor updates have been provided in Preface Table 1 for Kingdoms Bacteria, Chromista (Oomycota), and Fungi (Basidiomycota) (B. Weir & J. Cooper, pers. comm.). Each chapter contains checklists of extant and fossil (where applicable) taxa, and a table that summarises species diversity numbers for the phylum under consideration, representing our current knowledge status of the biodiversity of extant and fossil marine biota of the New Zealand region. The checklists are usually arranged according to the currently accepted systematics and classificatory scheme employed by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) (http://www.marinespecies.org/), or taxon specific databases associated with WoRMS, as unique to each taxon. The specimens that form the basis of the checklists in each chapter are either formally described taxa or taxonomically indeterminate taxa called operational taxonomic units (OTU), in national, international, and personal collections, and some may have been based upon images only, from Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) or deep-sea imaging systems such as NIWA’s Deepsea Towed Underwater Imaging System (DTIS). Metadata surrounding the updated checklists of marine taxa will be made available online as a supplementary dataset, making it available to national and international databases.
