Echinolaophonte Nicholls, 1941

Song, Sung Joon, Lee, Sang-kyu, Kim, Mijin, George, Kai Horst & Khim, Jong Seong, 2023, Phylogenetic revision of Echinolaophonte Nicholls (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Laophontidae T. Scott) including the establishment of two new genera and two new species, Zoosystematics and Evolution 99 (1), pp. 217-252 : 217

Genus Echinolaophonte Nicholls, 1941

Generic diagnosis

(modified from Nicholls 1941).

Laophontidae T. Scott, 1905. Body elongate, cylindrical, podoplean boundary between pro- and urosome inconspicuous. Sexual dimorphism in A1, P3 (in the Echinolaophonte brevispinosa - Echinolaophonte oshoroensis clade only; not yet confirmed for E. gladiator ), P4 (part.), P5, P6 and urosome segmentation (female with GDS due to fusion of last (P6-bearing, genital) thoracic somite with first abdominal somite). Cphth about 1/3 of total body length, with some sensilla laterally and dorsally; with strong, acute dorsal spur on posterior margin. Rostrum fused to cphth, laterally constricted, of different shape (dome, truncate, notch etc). Body somites, except preanal and telson, dorsally with cuticular processes of variable lengths. Preanal somite with highly variable pseudoperculum consisting of several, often digitate or squarrose processes (sometimes partly fused together). CR longer than broad, varying in length between species, with 7 setae. Female A1 slender, 6-segmented; male A1 sexually dimorphic, 8-segmented, subchirocer. A2 with 1-segmented exopod bearing 4 setae; allobasis with 1 or lacking abexopodal seta; endopod 1-segmented, subdistally with 2 spines and 1 slender additional seta, apically with 6 setae (2-3 geniculate)/spines. Mxp with elongated syncoxa and basis, prehensile, apical claw as long as basis. P1 prehensile, with extremely elongated coxa and basis, the latter reaching the length of enp-1. Exopod small, 2-segmented; endopod 2-segmented, enp-1 extremely elongated, enp-2 very small, with 1 strong claw and 1 tiny seta apically; P2-P4 with 3-segmented exopods, female with 2-segmented endopods; if sexually dimorphic, male P3 endopod 3-segmented, with strong apophysis on outer apical edge; those males lacking sexual dimorphism on P3 with 2-segmented endopod, resembling that of the female. Exopods of male P3 and P4 with or without sexual dimorphism. P5 of female with baseoendopod bearing 4 setae and with small distinct exopod carrying 3 setae. Male P5 smaller than in female, baseoendopod completely reduced; exopod distinct and small, with 3 setae.

Type species.

Echinolaophonte horrida (Norman, 1876) (= Cleta horrida Norman, 1876; Laophonte horrida (Brady, 1880); Onychocamptus horridus (Lang, 1948)).

Additional species.

E. armiger (Gurney, 1927) (= Laophonte armiger Gurney, 1927; Onychocamptus armiger (Lang, 1948); Echinolaophonte armiger f. typica (Lang, 1965));

E. brevispinosa (Sars, 1908) (= Laophonte brevispinosa Sars, 1908; Onychocamptus brevispinosus (Lang, 1948));

E. briani Lang, 1965 (= E. armiger f. briani Lang, 1965);

E. gladiator (Vervoort, 1962) (= Onychocamptus gladiator Vervoort, 1964);

E. hystrix (Brian, 1928) (= Laophonte hystrix Brian, 1928; L. steueri van Douwe, 1929; E. armiger (Norman, 1941); O. armiger (Lang, 1948, Vervoort, 1964); E. armiger f. typica (Lang, 1965; Lee et al. 2006));

E. longantennata Apostolov, 1990;

E. mirabilis (Gurney, 1927) (= Laophonte mirabilis Gurney, 1927; Onychocamptus mirabilis (Lang, 1948));

E. musa sp. nov. (present contribution);

E. oshoroensis Itô, 1969;

E. tetracheir Mielke, 1981;

E. villabonae Fuentes-Reinés and Suárez-Morales, 2017.