Stygofauna of the Canary Islands: 11. Boxshallia bulbantennulata gen. et spec. nov. (Copepoda: Misophrioida) from an anchihaline lava pool on Lanzarote, Canary Islands

• Main Author: Huys, R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1988
• Subjects: Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.vliz.be/nl/open-marien-archief?module=ref&refid=7048

A new genus and species of misophrioid copepod is described from an anchihaline lava pool on Lanzarote, Canary Islands. Boxshallia bulbantennulata gen. et spec. nov. lacks any trace of a carapace, possesses a genital double somite, and can be distinguished from other misophrioids by the presence of a bulb-shaped process on the first antennular segment, the loss of the inner coxal spine in leg 1 and the presence of 3 setae on the mandibular basis. The new genus also exhibits many plesiomorphic features such as the 27-segmented antenulla and the biramous leg 5 with a 2-segmented protopod and a well developed intercoxal sclerite in the female. On the basis of urosome segmentation and gonopore location, the holotype of Dimisophria cavernicola Boxshall & Iliffe, 1987 is recognised as being a (female) copepodid V stage. The discovery of a close deep-sea relative of the cavernicolous Expansophria species confirms Boxshall & Iliffe's (1987) idea that its puzzling distribution on Indo-West Pacific and North Atlantic islands can be explained by assuming that the genus must be widespread in the deep-sea.