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Vol. 51 No. 6, 2012
On Some Caligids (Copepoda: Caligidae) from Plankton of a
Coastal Lagoon in the Gulf of Mexico with a Description of a New
Species of Metacaligus
Eduardo
Suárez-Morales1,*, Il-Hoi Kim2, and Benigno J.
Escamilla3
1El
Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Chetumal, Quintana Roo 77014,
Mexico
2Department of Biology, Kangreung National University,
Kangreung, Kangwon do 210 702, South Korea
3Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida. Av. Tecnológico s/n,
Mérida Yucatán 97118, Mexico
Eduardo Suárez-Morales, Il-Hoi Kim, and Benigno J.
Escamilla (2012) A
collection of zooplankton from a coastal system of the southern Gulf of
Mexico contained several caligid copepods that were taxonomically
examined. The following species were identified: Caligus
rufimaculatus Wilson, 1905, C. undulatus Shen and Li, 1959, Caligus
sp., Metacaligus rufus (Wilson, 1908), and an undescribed species of
Metacaligus Thomsen, 1949. The 1st species (C. rufimaculatus) was
previously reported and redescribed from specimens collected in this
system. Caligus undulatus is known only from plankton surveys;
our specimens show subtle differences with respect to other known
populations. Metacaligus rufus is redescribed based on adult male
and female specimens collected from Chelem; this species has not been
redescribed since its original description. Both C. undulatus and
M. rufus represent new geographic records in the Gulf of Mexico and the
Northwestern Tropical Atlantic region. Metacaligus yucatanensis
sp. nov. is described based on male individuals and a single female
with a unique combination of characters including: 1) leg 1 with all
elements of the distal segment inserted on the inner margin, and 2) the
absence of an outer spine on the 2nd exopodal segment of the 2nd
leg. This is the 5th species of the genus currently known.
Key words: Planktonic crustaceans, Parasitic
copepods, Plankton ecology, Zooplankton, Invertebrate taxonomy.
*Correspondence: E-mail:esuarez@ecosur.mx
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