ABSTRACT
New deep-sea cirrate octopuses (Octopoda: Cirrata) are reported from around Australia and New Zealand. The limited collections comprise three species, one that is for the first time reported from Australian waters, and one from each of Australia and New Zealand that we deem to be new to science. Taxonomic instability and regional taxonomic novelty preclude the unambiguous attribution of any species to genus. While we consider no species to be sibling, or even closely related, each is attributed to
Grimpoteuthis:
G. greeni n. sp., based on three specimens from southern Australia;
G.
angularis n. sp., based on a single specimen from New Zealand; and the first male specimen of
G. abyssicola O’Shea,
1999, formerly known from the central Tasman Sea, which we describe and extend the distribution of into Australian waters. Relationships between these taxa and others provisionally attributed to the Grimpoteuthididae O’Shea,
1999 are evaluated and based primarily on the morphology of the shell, and secondarily on that of the gill, we propose a preliminary division of
Grimpoteuthis sensu lato into three
sensu lato morphologies.
