Austrocuma kornfieldi, a new bodotriid from India: Pleopod number in cumaceans and the placement of Coricuma

Abstract

A new cumacean species from the shallow waters of South of Chennai, India, is described. Austrocuma kornfieldi, new species, is the second Austrocuma known to science. This genus is characterized, among other features, by the presence of a reduced number of pleopods. Even though extensively used, pleopod number does not seem to be a good character for family-level diagnoses within the Cumacea, because the number of pleopods has undergone reductions in several of the lineages. The position of the genus Coricuma within the Cumacea has been debated, and the present description of A. kornfieldi, together with an analysis of pleopod number in cumaceans, reinforces the placement of Coricuma within the Family Bodotriidae.