Abstract

The vampire squid, Vampyroteuthis infernalis Chun, 1903, is currently the only extant species in the family Vampyroteuthidae Chun, 1903. However, specimens from the Gulf of Guinea, Africa, and California suggested the possibility of additional taxa. Here, we report the second species of Vampyroteuthis, collected from the South China Sea, China, which differs from V. infernalis by the tail shape, the lower beak, and the phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial COI and nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU) sequences: V. infernalis present by the lacking of the tail, photophores located approximately one-third of the points between the fins and end, and the lower beak with a broad, short wing; V. pseudoinfernalis Qiu, Liu & Huang, sp. nov. present by an acuate tail, a pair of photophores located at the midpoints between the fins and tail, and a lower beak with a broad, elongate wing.