Pholenota spatuliferaVervoort (Copepoda: Harpacticoida): aberrant laophontid or specialized diosaccid?

Abstract

Pholenota spatulifera Vervoort 1964, being originally placed as incertae sedis in the Laophontidae, is redescribed and refigured on the basis of the holotype female. It is suggested that the species cannot be assigned to any of the families of the Laophontoidea T. Scott, nor to the family Normanellidae Lang. The structure of the mouthparts, the swimming legs and of the genital complex unequivocally reveal instead that P. spatulifera should be allocated to the Diosaccidae. Despite the specialized morphology of the P1 it is provisionally concluded that the genus Pholenota Vervoort 1964 is most closely related to Amphiascus G. O. Sars 1905, particularly to the minutus-complex, suggesting a polyphyletic origin of the latter genus.