Abstract
Ten orders of the subclass Copepoda were cladistically analyzed using 21 morphological characters. Platycopioida is the sister taxon of the Calanoida and this gymnoplean clade is the sister group of the podoplean clade, which consists of eight orders. Misophrioida is, in turn, the sister taxon of the clade that contains the rest of the podoplean orders. Interestingly, the four orders (Poecilostomatoida, Siphonostomatoida, Monstrilloida, and Cyclopoida) containing species symbiotic with aquatic animals are monophyletic. Harpacticoida, Mormonilloida, and Gelyelloida are monophyletic in a fully resolved cladogram. Comparisons were made between this newly reconstructed scheme of copepod phylogeny and the previously proposed schemes. A cladistic analysis of the copepod orders was first conducted by Geoffrey A. Boxshall and presented in 1984 at the Second International Conference on Copepoda held in Ottawa, Canada. This original scheme of copepod phylogeny was reconstructed with 12 morphological characters. Later, Boxshall added 7 more characters to his analysis and the scheme constructed anew was
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