Speleohvarella gamulini gen. et sp. nov., a new copepod (Calanoida, Stephidae) from an anchialine cave in the Adriatic Sea

Abstract

A new copepod genus and species, Speleohvarella gamulini, collected from the anchialine cave Živa Voda on Hvar Island (Croatia), is described from both sexes. This is the first record of a calanoid copepod found in an Adriatic anchialine cave. The new genus is distinguished from other Stephidae by a combination of the following features: the cephalosome is separate from the first pedigerous somite, and the fourth and fifth pedigerous somites are fused; the female urosome has 4 segments, the genital double-somite is symmetrical and the caudal rami is asymmetrical with the right longer than the left; antennules of both sexes are symmetrical and 24-segmented, with the fusion of ancestral segments II-IV, X-XI and XXVII-XXVIII; the exopod of antenna is 7-segmented; 2 setae are present on the basal exite of maxillule; in the male the right leg 5 is short and 3-segmented, and the left leg elongate and 5-segmented. © The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.