REDESCRIPTION OF FEMALE AND MALE MESOCYCLOPS EDAX FORBES, 1891 (COPEPODA: CYCLOPOIDA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The female and male of Mesocyclops edax Forbes, 1891, are redescribed. This species comprises the following peculiarities compared to other representatives of Mesocyclops: a broad and deeply serrate hyaline membrane along the distal seventeenth antennular segment; the intercoxal plates of legs 1-3 with tiny spinules; leg 4 bearing 2 small protuberances; the inner seta of leg 4 endopod III nearly as long but smaller than the outer seta; a shovellike shape of the caudal setae; groups of hairs on the inner rim of the caudal rami; the shape of the genital field; and caryological and naupliar peculiarities. The present note provides the first description of the male. The male exhibits sexual dimorphism in size, the habitus, and the morphology of the antennule, antenna, leg 5, and leg 6. Morphological characters are compared and reevaluated with findings in the literature.