Two new species of Cymbasoma (Multicrustacea: Copepoda: Monstrilloida: Monstrillidae) from the North Atlantic

Abstract

ABSTRACT Monstrilloid copepods are protelean endoparasites of benthic invertebrates. Their adult free-living stage is chiefly found in the plankton of shallow coastal systems, estuaries and coral reefs; there are no previous records of monstrilloids from deeper marine habitats including epipelagic or mesopelagic waters. Two new species of the monstrilloid copepod genus Cymbasoma Thompson, 1888 are described based on adult females incidentally captured by an epibenthic sledge operated at a depth range of 118–302 m off north-west Iceland and the Norway Channel. Cymbasoma norvegicum sp. nov. is distinguished by a combination of characters including a long, constricted anal somite, bilobed fifth legs with long inner lobe, antennules with fused segments, and first antennule segment unarmed. Cymbasoma pedroi sp. nov. has a pair of rounded posterolateral protuberances on the genital somite, fused fifth legs lobes, and an anteriorly produced, ornamented forehead. Both species are considered new members of the Cymbasoma rigidum species group, widely distributed in different geographic areas but not previously known from epi-mesopelagic depths. The finding of these new species represents the first discovery of monstrilloids at epi-mesopelagic depths in the Pacific Ocean and it significantly adds to our knowledge of this copepod order, thus highlighting their potentially high yet unstudied diversity in deeper waters. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C05EEC28-9936-41CB-BC9E-D990AE53B3B1