Record of Kelleria reducta (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida: Kelleriidae) from the Caribbean Coast of Colombia

Abstract

From the analysis of plankton samples from a coastal lagoon system of northern Colombia a female specimen of the poecilostomatoid copepod Kelleria reducta Gómez, 2006 was recorded. This species was originally described from the Mexican Pacific and it is the only species of the genus known from the Americas. The specimen from Colombia bears the diagnostic features of K. reducta as originally described, but shows some subtle differences in the basis of the maxilliped, the caudal rami length/width ratio, the ornamentation of the caudal setae IV and V, and the body length. The morphological range of this species is complemented and additional comparisons are made with respect to 6 species recently described from Korea and Indonesia. Among them, K. reducta most closely resembles K. indonesiana Mulyadi, 2009 but they can be separated by differences in the last endopodal segment of antenna, the P4ENP, the P5, and the mandibular blade. This is the first record of the genus in Colombia and in the Caribbean basin; it represents a significant range extension of the species from the eastern Tropical Pacific to the western Caribbean.