Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Peracarida) from soft-sediment shelf habitats off the Mediterranean coast of Israel (Levant Sea) –taxonomy, faunistics and ecological aspects

A 74-year zoogeographic and faunistic description of the shelf soft substrate peracaridan Tanaidacea along the Israeli coast, the eastern-most part of the Mediterranean, is provided here. The presence of three apseudomorphan and ten tanaidomorphanfamilies, with 28 species, is recorded, of which four are reported from the region for the first time, and five are new species in the genera Araphura, Nippognathiopsis, Paratyphlotanais, and Typhlotanais. In addition, a new genus is established for Akanthophoreus nanopsenos, Leptochelia tanykeraia is redescribed, and the presence of Chondrochelia savignyi is demonstrated. The tanaid shelf community essentially belongs to the Mediterranean zoogeographic province but has several Mediterranean-Atlantic species. Lessepsian (Erythrean) migration is currently indicated by the presence of one species, the Indo-Pacific kalliapseudid Cristapseudes omercooperi, which has established a population in the studied area. Its settlement strategy is demonstrated and discussed. The poor Indo-Pacific representation is possibly due to the lack of planktonic larvae in this peracarid group, reducing the chance of dispersion or transport from the Indo-Pacific realm via the Suez Canal.