Is Copytus Skogsberg, 1939 (Crustacea: Ostracoda) a neocytherideid? : with description of a new family and two new species

• Main Authors: Coimbra, João Carlos, Bergue, Cristianini Trescastro, Ramos, Maria Inês Feijó
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Marine biodiversity; Copytus Skogsberg; Ostracoda; Crustacea; Taxonomy; South Atlantic; South Georgia Island; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/240578

The genus Copytus Skogsberg, 1939 was erected based on C. caligula, recovered from bottom sediments of the South Georgia Island, Antarctica. However, we propose herein that Skogsberg’s species is a junior synonym of Cytherideis laevata Brady, 1880 also collected from Antarctica and, therefore, Copytus laevata (Brady, 1880) becomes the type species. The position of the genus Copytus in the family Neocytherideidae is discussed, and a new family is proposed. In addition, we consider the genus Neocopytus Külköylüoðlu, Colin & Kiliç, 2007 invalid, and some of its species are transferred to Copytus. Finally, two new species of Copytus are herein described, C. cuspidata sp. nov. and C. wuerdigae sp. nov., and their geographic, bathymetric and stratigraphic distributions are discussed.