Electronic versions

  • Geoff A Boxshall
    Natural History Museum, London
  • Sarah Zylinski
    University of Leeds
  • Damià Jaume
    Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados (CSIC-UIB)
  • Thomas M Iliffe
    Texas A&M University
  • Eduardo Suárez-Morales
    ESOCUR, Mexico

A new genus and species of speleophriid copepod, Mexicophria cenoticola gen. et sp. nov., is described based on material collected from a cenote in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It is characterised by relatively reduced fifth legs that are located adjacent to the ventral midline in both sexes, by the possession of a bulbous swelling on the first antennulary segment in both sexes, and by the reduced setation of the swimming legs. The presence of just one inner margin seta on the second endopodal segment of legs 2 to 4 is a unique feature for the family. A phylogenetic analysis places the new genus on a basal lineage of the family together with its sister taxon, Boxshallia Huys, 1988, from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, and recovers the existing genera as monophyletic units. The zoogeography is discussed at local, regional, ocean basin and global scales.

Keywords

  • Animal Distribution, Animal Structures, Animals, Body Size, Copepoda, Ecosystem, Female, Male, Mexico, Organ Size, Phylogeny, Species Specificity, Journal Article
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)321-36
Number of pages16
JournalZootaxa
Volume3821
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jun 2014
Externally publishedYes
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