New record and redescription of Calanopia thompsoni A. Scott, 1909 (Copepoda, Calanoida, Pontellidae) from the Red Sea, with notes on the taxonomic status of C. parathompsoni Gaudy, 1969 and a key to species

Abstract

During a plankton sampling programme around Al-Wajh area, Saudi Arabian coast of the northern Red Sea, a copepod Calanopia thompsoni A. Scott, 1909 (Calanoida: Pontellidae) was reported for the first time in the Red Sea. Both sexes are fully redescribed and compared to previous descriptions as well as the closely related species, Calanopia parathompsoni. The zoogeographical distribution of the species confirms that it is of Indo-Pacific origin. A dichotomous key for the identification of males and females of the species of Calanopia is included.

New morphological and molecular data on the little-known pontellid Calanopia media Gurney, 1927 (Crustacea, Copepoda, Calanoida) from the Red Sea, with notes on its diel vertical distribution

“…During the last two decades, six species of pontellids have been originally described as new species or were first recorded from the Red Sea: Calanopia kideysi by Ünal and Shmeleva (2002), Labidocera boxshalli El-Sherbiny & Ueda, 2010 by El-Sherbiny and Ueda (2010), Calanopia tulina by El-Sherbiny and Al-Aidaroos (2017), Pontella princeps Dana, 1849 by El-Sherbiny (2009), Labidocera karachiensis Fazal-Ur-Rehman, 1973 by El-Sherbiny andUeda (2008), and Calanopia thompsoni by Al-Aidaroos et al (2016). However, the diversity of this family in the Red Sea is rather low (17 species) compared with that of the Indian Ocean (77 species as reported by Razouls et al 2019), from which the Red Sea fauna has originated (Al-Aidaroos et al 2019).…”

“…Five genera and 17 pontellid species have been recorded from the Red Sea (Al-Aidaroos et al 2019;El-Sherbiny and Al-Aidaroos 2017;Razouls et al 2019), whereas 77 pontellid species are present in the greater Indian Ocean (Razouls et al 2019). Among the Red Sea pontellids, there are six species of Calanopia (Al-Aidaroos et al 2016;El-Sherbiny and Al-Aidaroos 2017), namely: C. elliptica Dana, 1849, C. minor A. Scott, 1902, C. media Gurney, 1927, C. kideysi Ünal & Shmeleva, 2002, C. thompsoni A. Scott, 1909and C. tulina El-Sherbiny & Al-Aidaroos, 2017. The original description of C. media is rather brief, does not include the cephalic and thoracic limbs, and illustrations are confined to habitus drawings of the female and male in dorsal view, the female urosome, the male right antennule ancestral segments 19 and 20 and the male and female leg 5.…”