Biodiversity Data Journal :
Data Paper (Biosciences)
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Corresponding author: Claudia S. Maturana (cmaturana.ciencias@gmail.com)
Academic editor: Huw Griffiths
Received: 23 Jun 2023 | Accepted: 11 Aug 2023 | Published: 17 Aug 2023
© 2023 Sebastian Rosenfeld, Claudia Maturana, Melisa Gañan, Javier Rendoll Cárcamo, Angie Díaz, Tamara Contador, Cristian Aldea, Claudio Gonzalez-Wevar, Julieta Orlando, Elie Poulin
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Rosenfeld S, Maturana CS, Gañan M, Rendoll Cárcamo J, Díaz A, Contador T, Aldea C, Gonzalez-Wevar C, Orlando J, Poulin E (2023) Revealing the hidden biodiversity of Antarctic and the Magellanic Sub-Antarctic Ecoregion: A comprehensive study of aquatic invertebrates from the BASE Project. Biodiversity Data Journal 11: e108566. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e108566
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Antarctica, its outlying archipelagoes and the Magellanic Subantarctic (MSA) ecoregion are amongst the last true wilderness areas remaining on the planet. Therefore, the publication, citation and peer review of their biodiversity data are essential. The new Millennium Institute Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic Ecosystems (BASE), a Chilean scientific initiative funded by the National Agency of Research and Innovation, contributes 770 new records of aquatic invertebrates as a point of reference for present-day biodiversity research at these latitudes.
The occurrence dataset presented here has never been released before and is the result of the systematic recording of occurrences of several taxa across the Antarctic, Subantarctic and Magellanic Subantarctic ecoregions. We collected data from marine and freshwater invertebrates across numerous samplings from 2008 to 2023. From the 770 occurrences, we identified 160 taxa, 125 at species level and 35 at the genus level. The database has been registered in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The publication of this data paper was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO, contract n°FR/36/AN1/AntaBIS) in the Framework of EU-Lifewatch as a contribution to the SCAR Antarctic biodiversity portal (biodiversity.aq)
Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, freshwater ecosystems, GBIF, macroinvertebrates, Southern Ocean
The study and characterisation of biodiversity in the different ecosystems of the planet is a challenge and a task of grand proportions since it is estimated that the Earth is inhabited by about 10 million species, which requires a significant investment of funds and work to generate, collect and analyse biodiversity data (
The Southern Ocean (SO) surrounds Antarctica and is one of the main drivers of global ocean circulation (
It is essential to highlight that, despite the research efforts in Antarctica and the SO in the last decades in generating knowledge in biodiversity, there are still many poorly-sampled and -studied areas and habitats. In this regard, the intertidal and shallow subtidal environments of Antarctica and Subantarctic environments are considerably less well-sampled than either the surrounding deep sea (
The Chilean Institute of Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic Ecosystems (BASE) decided to contribute with the digitisation of the historical sampling fieldwork conducted by the authors across Antarctic, Subantarctic and Magellanic Subantarctic ecoregions. This effort will increase the biodiversity data available for these latitudes and improve our understanding of the magnitude of the potential effects of biodiversity loss.
These data aim to comprehensively describe the geographic distribution of aquatic macroinvertebrates in southern South America, Subantarctica and Antarctica ecoregions. Although this database only included four phyla - and therefore is not completely representative of the extant biodiversity in those regions - we aim to expand the work to include more phyla, species and geographic coverage. The development and continuously updated database will improve our knowledge of Antarctic and Subantarctic biodiversity and initiate long-term biodiversity monitoring across marine and terrestrial ecosystems to detect significant modifications due to global change.
State of Antarctic and Subantarctic biodiversity
Julieta Orlando, Claudia Maturana, Sebastián Rosenfeld, Melisa Gañán, Javier Rendoll
Antarctic and Subantarctic ecoregions, including the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR)
ICM-ANID Program ICN2021_002
Since the sampling was carried out by various groups of researchers from different ecosystems and habitats, the sampling methodology presents variations related to the field team and the particular conditions of each collection site. Additionally, each group of taxa requires different sampling techniques; however, here we present the two principal methodologies for collection of aquatic invertebrates.
Marine
The specimens were collected following a previous methodology (Rosenfeld et al. 2022). In particular, the different taxa were collected using three methods: 1) manual collection in the intertidal zone, with molluscs being sampled individually; 2) SCUBA diving between 1 and 15 m depth, where the sea urchins were manually collected; and 3) SCUBA diving between 1 and 20 m depth, where the substrates (e.g. sediments, macroalgae) were collected. Rock substrates were subsequently scraped to ensure that all species and specimens were collected. Each macroalga sample was placed in a plastic bag. After collection, specimens were kept alive and transported on-board or to the research station. Each sample was then gently agitated to detach the associated fauna.
For intertidal insect sampling, the intertidal area was surveyed during low tide and adult individuals were collected using an entomological aspirator (insect's pooter).
Freshwater
Individuals were collected from lakes, ponds and other freshwater bodies using a Surber net of 0.09 m2 area and 243 μm mesh. A Malaise trap was also placed at each site to obtain adult representatives of the organisms needed to identify them to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Traps were placed in the late afternoon and left overnight at each site.
All captures were identified up to species level following available taxonomic keys for the different groups. GPS positions were recorded for each sample location. Specimens were immediately preserved in ethanol (95%) to be transported to the laboratory. The specimens belonging to other phyla not included in this study were kept in ethanol 95%, classified by phylum waiting to be described and digitised.
The geographic extent of the digitised dataset is placed in the following biogeographic areas (Fig.
68 and 39 Latitude; 74 and 72 Longitude.
Morphological observations were performed under an OLYMPUS stereomicroscope CX31. Taxonomic identification of the molluscs was based on a complete study of the current literature (e.g.
For specific taxonomic identifications in the Arthropoda database, we followed the available taxonomic keys (Ephemeroptera:
The taxonomic coverage of the dataset consists of all captures of aquatic invertebrates from marine (sub- and intertidal) and freshwater (rivers, lakes and lagoons) habitats. This database comprises 770 occurrences across four invertebrate Phyla: Arthropoda, Annelida, Mollusca and Echinodermata. Of the total occurrences, 50.1% corresponded to Arthropoda, 47% to Mollusca, 2.3% to Echinodermata (1 species) and 0.5% to Annelida (1 taxon at genus level) (Fig.
Marine
Considering all the revised specimens, the mollusc database includes 357 records, representing 104 taxa belonging to the classes Polyplacophora, Gastropoda and Bivalvia. Of the total number of taxa, 93 were identified at the species level, six at the genus level and five were left as "cf" (i.e. conferred) because there was no concrete background to identify it with certainty. Of the total occurrences, 277 are gastropods, corresponding to 76 recorded taxa; 40 are chitons, belonging to 10 species and 36 are bivalves, belonging to 17 species. The main families in terms of occurrence and number of species were Littorinidae, Eatoniellidae, Nacellidae, Muricidae and Calliostomatidae, accumulating together ~ 51% of the total occurrences and ~ 42% of the total species (Fig.
Freshwater
The freshwater ecosystems included three phyla: Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda, the latter being the most complete in terms of taxonomic coverage, occurrences and geographic extent. Considering all the Arthropoda database, we included 374 records, from which Insecta was the most representative class (305 records), followed by Branchiopoda (38), Malacostraca (27) and Maxillopoda (4). Within the total records, we detected 48 taxa, from which 25 were identified at the species level and 23 at the genus level. We have detailed the most diverse orders regarding occurrences and taxonomic diversity (Fig.
Occurrences and total taxa by orders from the Arthropoda database. Data were collected from different expeditions to the Antarctic and Subantarctic regions. The absolute values of occurrences and species are represented in parentheses. Credits for images Maxime Dahirel (coleoptera) and Didier Descouens vectorised by T. Michael Keesey (trichoptera).
Rank | Scientific Name |
---|---|
species | Tonicina zschaui (Pfeffer, 1886) |
species | Leptochiton kerguelensis Haddon, 1886 |
species | Callochiton steinenii (Pfeffer, 1886) |
species | Callochiton puniceus (Gould, 1846) |
species | Tonicia chilensis (Frembly, 1827) |
species | Tonicia lebruni Rochebrune, 1884 |
species | Chiton magnificus Deshayes, 1827 |
species | Plaxiphora aurata (Spalowsky, 1795) |
species | Nuttallochiton martiali (Rochebrune, 1889) |
species | Ischnochiton stramineus (G. B. Sowerby I, 1832) |
species | Hemiarthrum setulosum Carpenter [in Dall], 1876 |
species | Fissurellidea patagonica (Strebel, 1907) |
species | Fissurella oriens G. B. Sowerby I, 1834 |
species | Puncturella conica (d'Orbigny, 1841) |
species | Scurria ceciliana (d'Orbigny, 1841) |
species | Nacella concinna (Strebel, 1908) |
species | Nacella deaurata (Gmelin, 1791) |
species | Nacella flammea (Gmelin, 1791) |
species | Nacella mytilina (Helbling, 1779) |
species | Nacella magellanica (Gmelin, 1791) |
species | Margarella violacea (P. P. King, 1832) |
species | Margarella antarctica (Lamy, 1906) |
species | Margarella achilles (Strebel, 1908) |
species | Margarella steineni (Strebel, 1905) |
species | Margarella tropidophoroides (Strebel, 1908) |
species | Munditia meridionalis (Melvill & Standen, 1912) |
species | Onoba grisea (Martens, 1885) |
species | Onoba kergueleni (E. A. Smith, 1875) |
species | Subonoba turqueti (Lamy, 1906) |
species | Rissoella powelli Ponder, 1983 |
species | Pickenia signyensis Ponder, 1983 |
species | Crepipatella dilatata (Lamarck, 1822) |
species | Laevilacunaria antarctica (Martens, 1885) |
species | Laevilacunaria bennetti (Preston, 1916) |
species | Laevilitorina antarctica (E. A. Smith, 1902) |
species | Laevilitorina claviformis Preston, 1916 |
species | Laevilitorina umbilicata Pfeffer, 1886 |
species | Laevilitorina caliginosa (Gould, 1849) |
species | Laevilitorina pygmaea Pfeffer, 1886 |
species | Laevilitorina venusta Pfeffer, 1886 |
species | Pellilitorina pellita (Martens, 1885) |
species | Pellilitorina setosa (E. A. Smith, 1875) |
species | Eatoniella denticula Ponder & Worsfold, 1994 |
species | Eatoniella nigra (d'Orbigny, 1840) |
species | Eatoniella kerguelenensis (E. A. Smith, 1875) |
species | Eatoniella caliginosa (E. A. Smith, 1875) |
species | Eatoniella contusa Strebel, 1908 |
species | Eatoniella subgoniostoma Strebel, 1908 |
species | Eatoniella strebeli Ponder & Worsfold, 1994 |
species | Eatoniella glacialis (E.A. Smith, 1907) |
species | Eatoniella cana Ponder, 1983 |
genus | Marseniopsis sp. |
species | Skenella umbilicata Ponder, 1983 |
species | Skenella georgiana Pfeffer, 1886 |
species | Skenella cf. wareni Ponder & Worsfold, 1994 |
species | Liotella crassicostata (Strebel, 1908) |
species | Sinuber sculptum (E. von Martens 1878) |
species | Eumetula pulla (Philippi, 1845) |
species | Omalogyra antarctica Egorova, 1991 |
species | Microdiscula subcanaliculata (E.A. Smith, 1875) |
species | Acanthina monodon (Pallas, 1774) |
species | Trophon plicatus (Lightfoot, 1786) |
species | Trophon geversianus Pallas, 1774 |
species | Trophon nucelliformis P. G. Oliver & Picken, 1984 |
species | Trophon brevispira E von. Martens, 1885 |
species | Fuegotrophon pallidus (Broderip, 1833) |
species | Xymenopsis muriciformis (P. P. King, 1832) |
genus | Prosipho sp. |
species | Prosipho cf. chordatus (Strebel, 1908) |
species | Prosipho cf. gracilis Thiele, 1912 |
species | Prosipho hedleyi Powell, 1958 |
species | Falsimohnia minor (Strebel, 1908) |
species | Chlanidota densesculpta (Martens, 1885) |
species | Pareuthria fuscata (Bruguière, 1789) |
species | Microdeuthria michaelseni (Strebel, 1905) |
species | Meteuthria martensi (Strebel, 1905) |
species | Mathilda magellanica P. Fischer, 1873 |
genus | Flabellina sp. |
species | Toledonia palmeri Dell, 1990 |
species | Toledonia cf. palmeri Dell, 1990 |
species | Toledonia parelata Dell, 1990 |
species | Scissurella petermannensis Lamy, 1910 |
species | Scissurella clathrata Strebel, 1908 |
species | Siphonaria lateralis Gould, 1846 |
species | Siphonaria fuegiensis Güller, Zelaya & Ituarte, 2016 |
species | Siphonaria lessonii Blainville, 1827 |
species | Onchidella marginata (Couthouy in Gould, 1852) |
species | Turbonilla strebeli Corgan, 1969 |
species | Neobuccinum eatoni (E. A. Smith, 1875) |
species | Kidderia subquadrata (Pelseneer, 1903) |
species | Kidderia minuta Dall, 1876 |
species | Lissarca miliaris (Philippi, 1845) |
genus | Lissarca sp. |
species | Gaimardia trapesina (Lamarck, 1819) |
genus | Philobrya sp. |
species | Philobrya quadrata (Pfeffer in Martens & Pfeffer, 1886) |
genus | Neolepton sp. |
species | Laternula elliptica (P. P. King, 1832) |
species | Limea pygmaea (Philippi, 1845) |
species | Aequiyoldia cf. eightsii (Jay, 1839) |
species | Altenaeum charcoti (Lamy, 1906) |
genus | Hiatella sp. |
genus | Lasaea sp. |
species | Aulacomya atra (Molina, 1782) |
species | Perumytilus purpuratus (Lamarck, 1819) |
species | Arbacia dufresnii (Blainville, 1825) |
species | Telmatogeton magellanicus (Jacobs, 1900) |
species | Rhionaeschna variegata (Fabricius, 1775) |
genus | Helobdella sp. |
species | Lancetes angusticollis (Curtis, 1839) |
genus | Lancetes sp. |
genus | Liodessus sp. |
genus | Luchoelmis sp. |
genus | Haliplus sp. |
species | Metamonius anceps (Eaton, 1883) |
species | Massartelopsis irarrazavali (Demoulin, 1955) |
species | Meridialaris chiloeensis (Demoulin, 1955) |
species | Andesiops torrens (Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty, 1999) |
species | Aubertoperla kuscheli Illies, 1963 |
genus | Aubertoperla sp. |
genus | Antarctoperla sp. |
genus | Notoperla sp. |
species | Rhithroperla rossi (Froehlich, 1960) |
species | Udamocercia antarctica (Enderlein, 1905) |
genus | Udamocercia sp. |
species | Austrocosmoecus hirsutus Schmid, 1955 |
species | Monocosmoecus hyadesii (Mabille, 1888) |
genus | Verger sp. |
species | Mastigoptila brevicornuta (Schmid, 1958) |
species | Rheochorema magellanicum Flint, 1974 |
genus | Rheochorema sp |
genus | Sigara sp. |
species | Parochlus steinenii (Gercke, 1889) |
species | Gigantodax rufescens (Edwards, 1931) |
genus | Gigantodax sp. |
genus | Hexatoma sp. |
genus | Hemerodromia sp. |
species | Edwardsina dispar Edwards, 1929 |
species | Gigantodax igniculus Coscaron & Wygodzinsky, 1962 |
genus | Limonia sp. |
genus | Aphroteniella sp. |
species | Andesiops torrens (Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty, 1999) |
genus | Klapopteryx sp |
species | Notoperla fuegiana (Enderlein, 1905) |
genus | Pelurgoperla sp. |
genus | Teutoperla sp. |
genus | Aubertoperla sp. |
genus | Metacosmoecus sp. |
species | Pisidium magellanicum (Dall, 1908) |
species | Pectinidens diaphanum (P.P.King, 1832) |
species | Hyalella simplex (Schellemberg, 1943) |
genus | Hyalella sp. |
genus | Daphnia sp. |
genus | Boeckella sp. |
species | Andesiops peruvianus (Ulmer, 1920) |
species | Metamonius anceps (Eaton, 1883) |
species | Senzilloides panguipulli (Navás, 1928) |
species | Limnoperla jaffueli (Navás, 1928) |
species | Antarctoperla michaelseni (Klapálek, 1904) |
species | Branchinecta gaini Daday, 1910 |
All available records between 2008 and 2023.
The dataset contains occurrence data from marine and freshwater invertebrates across numerous samplings from 2008 to 2023 (
Column label | Column description |
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occurrenceID | Unique identifier for each occurrence per taxa. |
institutionCode | Unique identifier for the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. |
collectionCode | The coden identifying the collection from which the record was derived. |
catalogNumber | A unique identifier for the record within the dataset. |
ocurrenceStatus | The statement about the presence of the Taxon at the given Location. |
collectionID | The identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived. |
language | The language of the resource. |
licence | The legal document giving official permission to share and adapt with appropiate credits. |
bibliographicCitation | The bibliographic reference for the resource as a statement indicating how this record should be cited and attributed when used. |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName. |
kingdom | The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified. |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum in which the taxon is classified. |
class | The full scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified. |
order | The full scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified. |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified. |
scientificName | The full scientific name in the lowest level taxonomic rank that was determined. |
specificEpithet | The name of species epithet of the scientificName. |
scientificNameAuthorship | The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode. |
acceptedNameUsageID | An identifier for the documented meaning of the name according to a source of the currently valid (zoological) or accepted (botanical) taxon. We included GBIF and World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) website codes. |
individualCount | The number of individuals present at the time of the Occurrence, if it were countable. |
country | The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the Location occurs. |
countryCode | The standard code for the country in which the Location occurs following the best practice using an ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 country code. |
locality | The specific description of the place in which the collection was made. |
island | The name of the island in which the Location occurs. |
waterBody | The name of the water body in which the Location occurs. We include best practice to use a controlled vocabulary. |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude in decimal degrees of the geographic centre of a Location. Positive values are east of the Greenwich Meridian, negative values are west of it. Legal values lie between -180 and 180, inclusive. |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude in decimal degrees of the geographic centre of a Location. Positive values are north of the Equator, negative values are south of it. Legal values lie between -90 and 90, inclusive. |
coordinateUncertaintyInMetres | The horizontal distance in metres from the given decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the Location. We used the reasonable lower limit on or after 01-05-2020 of a GPS. |
geodeticDatum | The geodetic datum upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based. |
georeferencedBy | A person or a list concatenated and separated of names of people who determined the georeference for the Location. |
eventDate | The date-time when the event was recorded. We used best practice using the ISO 8601:1:2019. |
year | The four-digit year in which the Occurrence was recorded, according to the Common Era Calendar. |
month | The integer month in which the Occurrence was recorded. |
minimumDepthInMetres | The lesser depth below the local surface in metres. |
maximumDepthInMetres | The greater depth below the local surface in metres. |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record. We used the recommended best practice of one of the Darwin Core classes. |
type | The nature of the resource. We used the recommended best practice of one of the Darwin Core classes. |
preparations | A list concatenated and separated of preparations and preservation methods for the specimen. |
recordedBy | A person or a list of names of people responsible for recording the original Occurrence. |
identifiedBy | A person or a list of names of people who assigned the Taxon to the subject. |
habitat | A category or description of the habitat in which the Occurrence was recorded. |
datasetID | The identifier for the set of data related to the metadata published in GBIF. |
datasetName | The name identifying the dataset from which the record was derived. This column is related to the metadata published in GBIF. |
occurrenceRemarks | Comments related to the framework of the published records. |
associatedReferences | A list concatenated and separated of bibliographic reference of literature associated with the Occurrence. |
As with all datasets, there are two main topics that we want to call attention to and discuss.
Within Magellan Province, important differences exist amongst the regions included in this study. For example, CHBR had the highest number of records (440) of freshwater biodiversity overall across all the geographic regions, but in Brunswick/Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego, there is a notorious gap in terms of biodiversity assessment, digitisation of inventories and sampling efforts (Fig.
These results deserve to be highlighted as they point out where sampling and geographic exploration efforts should be aimed and to survey and digitise the under-represented taxa in the territory. In this regard, the highest number of records obtained in the CHBR (Fig. 5) could represent the result of the long-term monitoring of freshwater invertebrates in the area currently conducted by the new Cape Horn International Centre funded by the Chilean Agency of Research and Innovation.
Pickenia signyensis Ponder, 1983 (Fig.
Photographs of new records and distribution extension of marine invertebrates; a Pickenia signyensis (bar scale 1 mm); b Radula of P. signyensis where the absence of the central tooth is shown (bar scale 0.01 mm); c Liotella crassicostata (bar scale 0.4 mm); d Laevilacunaria antarctica Photographs by Sebastián Rosenfeld.
Liotella crassicostata (Strebel, 1908) (Fig.
Laevilacunaria antarctica (Martens, 1885) (Fig.
The Antarctic fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini Daday, 1910 is an Anostraca species with a distribution from southern South America, Falkland/Malvinas Islands and South Georgia. Within maritime Antarctica, this shrimp occurs from the South Orkney Islands to the southern Antarctic Peninsula, including South Shetland Islands (
Regarding the general freshwater records, all the species found from the Diptera, Rhynchobdellida, Coleoptera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Veneroida, Hygrophila, Amphipoda, Cladocera, Calanoida and Basommatophora orders correspond to the southernmost records of their known distribution. In addition, new records of Parochlus steinenii (Gercke, 1889) and Boeckella were obtained during the last expedition to South Georgia and the Weddell Sea, but these occurrences will be updated into the existing GBIF databases (
With all this, these new records represent a significant contribution in occurrence data, which undoubtedly contributes to the knowledge of the biodiversity of aquatic invertebrates in the Sub-Antarctic ecoregion of Magallanes, the maritime Antarctic and the Antarctic Peninsula. Additionally, this database allows for contributions to further studies on species distribution, biogeography and ecological niche modelling, amongst others.
This work was possible thanks to the collaboration of researchers from the core team dedicated to studying marine and freshwater invertebrates. This initiative is funded by ANID-Millennium Science Initiative Program ICN2021_002 and ANID/BASAL FB210018. The Antarctic and Subantarctic expeditions, developed from 2008 to date, were financed by various research funds, mainly from the National Research Agency (FONDECYT 3210063, 1210787, PIA ACT 122065) and the Chilean Antarctic Program (DT_04-16, FP_01-21, DG_10-22). The authors would like to thank the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) and the Chilean Navy from the Aquiles and Oscar Viel ships for ECA53, ECA54 and ECA55 and the crew from the Betanzos ship during the ECA58 and ECA59. We also would like to thank Commandant Charcot and our Scientist leader Geoffroy Dekersauson from Ponant expedition LEGCC120302023.
SR conceived the idea, SR, CSM, AD and MG built up and checked the dataset. MG made the map, constructed the metadata and published the occurrences dataset in GBIF IPT – Chile. JR, TC, CSM and SR made the taxonomic revision of the specimens. AD, TC, JR, SR, CSM, MG, CGW, JO and EP contributed with funds, expeditions logistics and sampling. SR and CSM developed the paper and CSM uploaded all the files to the Arphahub platform. All authors read and edited the submitted version and agreed on its present version.