Brevicyclops

Totakura, Venkateswara Rao & Reddy, Yenumula Ranga, 2015, Groundwater cyclopoid copepods of peninsular India, with description of eight new species, Zootaxa 3945 (1), pp. 1-93 : 41

Brevicyclops n. g.

Generic diagnosis. Small cyclopinae, total body length of females 324–410 µm, of males 228–361 µm. Body cyclopiform, moderately strong; genital double-somite strongly dilated proximally and somewhat narrow distally; anal operculum moderately developed; caudal rami 1.6–1.8 times as long as wide; dorsal seta particularly long; principal outer apical seta either greatly reduced, being about as long as innermost apical seta, or completely absent; female antennule 11-segmented; seventh segment with 2 setae; male antennule 16–17-segmented; antennal armature formula 1.1.5.7; mandibular palp lacking; maxilliped 4-segmented, setal formula 2.1.1.2; legs 1–4 with 2- segmented exopod and endopod; spine formula of second exopodal segment: 2.2.2.2 or 2.3.3.2; setal formula: 5.4.4.4 or 5.5.5.4; leg 1 basis without inner spine; coxopodal spine absent at least on leg 4; legs 1–4 intercoxal plates with small, rounded, and mostly smooth prominences. Leg 5 reduced to 3 setae. Leg 6 reduced to 2 distinctly unequal setae.

Type species. Brevicyclops brevisetosus n. g., n. sp.

Other species. Brevicyclops asetosus n. g., n. sp., Brevicyclops viduus n. g., n. sp.

Remark. The significant synapomorphy of the genus Brevicyclops n. g. is that the principal outer apical caudal seta is either extremely reduced in size or completely absent. Clearly, this genus has closest morphological affinity with the genus Rybocyclops Dussart, 1982 .

Etymology. The genus name is derived by prefixing the Latin brevi (= short) to the common term Cyclops to denote to the above-mentioned synapomorphic feature. Gender masculine.