New Family of Deep-Sea Planktonic Copepods, the Paralubbockiidae (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida)

Abstract

AbstractThe deep-sea planktonic copepod Paralubbockia longipedia is redescribed from the type specimens, and a new family of Poecilostomatoida is proposed to accommodate it. The Paralubbockiidae fam. nov. is characterized by two unique plesiomorphies, the ventrally located fifth legs and the retention of a separate maxillulary palp, and by the apomorphic states of the endopods of the swimming legs and of the antenna. The sister group of the Paralubbockiidae is identified as the family Oncaeidae. These are the only two poecilostomatoid families that have retained a vestige of the geniculation mechanism in the antennules of the male. The genus Laitmatobius Humes is here regarded as incertae sedis within the lineage comprising the Oncaeidae and the Paralubbockiidae.