Faunistic assessment of the marine Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda) fauna of Turkey with remarks on harpacticoid diversity in the eastern Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

In this study, phytal and intersititial harpacticoids inhabiting the marine coasts of the Turkish Aegean Sea and northern Cyprus were determined at 12 sampling stations. As a result, 24 species belonging to 20 genera distributed within 11 families were identified. Among the taxa identified, the family Cletopsyllidae, the genera Isocletopsyllus, Sunaristes and Typhlamphiascus and the species Longipedia scotti, L. helgolandica, Sunaristes paguri, Dactylopusia glacialis, Orthopsyllus cf. sarsi, Isocletopsyllus tertius, Paramphiascella bulbifer, Sarsamphiascus tenuiremis, Robertgurneya remanei and Typhlamphiascus confusus are recorded for the first time from the Turkish seas. On the other hand, the following species are reported for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea; Longipedia helgolandica, Dactylopusia glacialis, Orthopsyllus cf. sarsi and Robertgurneya remanei. In addition, Paramphiascella bulbifer and Sarsamphiascus tenuiremis are also reported for the first time from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, the examination of the published papers on marine harpacticoids has revealed that there is no data on marine harpacticoids from the Cyprus seas, and; therefore, all species identified in this study (Orthopsyllus cf. sarsi, Dactylopusia glacialis, Laophonte plana, Isocletopsyllus tertius and Sunaristes paguri) are a first record for the marine harpacticoid fauna of Cyprus.