On the record of Coronula diadema (Cirripedia: Coronulidae) in Chilean waters

Abstract

The barnacle genus Coronula Lamarck, 1802 (Cirripedia: Coronulidae) includes two extant species: Coronula diadema (Linnaeus, 1767), and Coronula reginae Darwin, 1854. These rather large, and highly specialized barnacles, live exclusively attached to the skin of whales, particularly of the humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, and thus they are widely distributed in marine waters from the equator to the poles. Coronula species have few records in the Southeast Pacific, with a single previous record in Chilean waters (although during the XIX century). In this article we present the second documented record of Coronula diadema in Chilean waters, based on two specimens found in deep waters off Caldera, northern Chile, extending its distribution in the southeastern Pacific. We also illustrate for the first time the only previous record of C. diadema in Chile by Weltner (1895). The presence of detached extant C. diadema shells in northern Chile agrees with the migratory routes of humpback and baleen whales along the South American coasts. Considering the previous absence of Coronula specimens in Chilean institutions, it is necessary to actively record this species in living whales, and to collect specimens in those stranded, which constitute the only opportunity to recover live specimens of Coronula and associated fauna.