A NEW SPECIES OF PSEUDOCYCLOPS (COPEPODA: CALANOIDA) FROM LAKE FARO (CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN SEA)

A new calanoid copepod species Pseudocyclops faroensis sp. nov. is described trom a Mediterranean coastal lake on Sicily (Italy). The discovery of P. faroensis sp. nov. increases the number of species of Pseudocyclops known from the Mediterranean to six. Out of 35 species comprising the genus Pseudocyclops, P. faroensis sp. nov., Pseudocyclops giussanii, and Pseudocyclops mirus are characterized by a narrow, elongate prosome, a female antennule of 16 segments, and an unsegmented endopod of leg 1. Since the combination of these characters is unique to these three species within the genus, they are recognized in a distinct species group: the mirus-group, which is geographically distributed around the Eastern Atlantic-Mediterranean region. Moreover, P.faroensis sp. nov. can easily be distinguished from these two species by the number of setae in the sub-distal inner margin on the endopod of female leg 1 with a conspicuous process in P.faroensis, serrated in P. giussanii, smooth in P. mirus; the submedial basal seta of leg 5 (present in P.faroensis and P. giussanii; absent in P. mirus); the inner margin of the exopod of female leg 5 (naked in P.faroensis and P. giussanii; with a seta on second exopod segment in P. mirus). The morphological and geographical relationships between the new species and other related species are discussed.

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