Stolonicyclops Heggiensis, New Genus, New Species, From Georgia, U.S.A. (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Cyclopidae)

Abstract

A previously unknown genus and species of cyclopoid copepod, Stolonicyclops heggiensis, was discovered in seepage areas on Heggie's Rock, a granite monadnock in Georgia, U.S.A. The genus is characterized by leg 5 fused to the somite, with 1 dorsal seta and 2 ventral setae on a small knob; the antennule of 11 segments in the female; the swimming legs with 2-segmented rami, except leg 4 endopodite segments partly fused in the female; the spine and seta formulae of swimming legs 2,3,3,3 and 5,4,4,4, respectively; the lack of a seta on the medial (inner) corner of the coxopodite of legs 2-4; leg 4 endopodite segment 2 with 5 appendages; and the lack of sexual dimorphism in the swimming legs, except for the difference in leg 4 endopodite fusion. In several respects, S. heggiensis resembles Bryocyclops (Palaeocyclops) jankowskajae Monchenko from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. However, the lack of modified appendages of leg 3 in the male of S. heggiensis precludes assigning it to the genus Bryocyclops. The nature of leg 3 of the male and other plesiomorphic characters of S. heggiensis may indicate that its ancestor diverged earlier than Palaeocyclops from the Bryocyclops ancestral line. A population of a previously unknown genus and species of cyclopoid copepod inhabits ephemeral seepage areas between rock slopes on a granite monadnock in the state of Georgia, U.S.A. We describe the species and aspects of its habitat and biology. For description, the specimens were transferred from 70% ethanol to glycerine and then to lactic acid. Drawings were made from