Copytus baculoides ( Brady, 1890 )

Coimbra, João Carlos, Bergue, Cristianini Trescastro & Ramos, Maria Inês Feijó, 2020, Is Copytus Skogsberg, 1939 (Crustacea: Ostracoda) a neocytherideid? With description of a new family and two new species, Zootaxa 4729 (2), pp. 177-194 : 182

Copytus baculoides ( Brady, 1890) .

This species, originally described as Cytherideis baculoides , was recovered from between tide-marks at Levuka and from 4 fathoms (= 7.31 m) depth at Sava Sava Bay, Vanua Levu, Fiji. Unfortunately, no internal details are given, but the drawings (pl. III, figs. 11–12) clearly suggest a species with a rounded posterior and an angular anterior end with the apex below mid-height; tubular to fusiform in dorsal view. Teeter (1973, 1975) transferred Brady’s species to the genus Copytus . In Teeter (1975), which deals with modern shallow marine ostracods from Belize (eastern coast of Central America), the author stated the following: “The writer compared the specimens of Belize with some of his collection of Fiji, the type locality of that species, and found them identical”. He attributed this uncommon geographical distribution to ship ballast water because in his study this species occurred only in the “entrance to Belize Harbour available to ocean-going vessels”. However, the comparison of the material illustrated by Teeter (1975, fig. 6b) with that briefly described and figured by Brady (1890, pl. III, figs. 11–12), reveals different species. Cytherideis baculoides is much more elongate and larger (l = 0.75 mm) than Teeter’s specimens (l = 0.48 mm), and bears a more angulose anteroventral region.

Labutis (1977) recorded Copytus sp. cf. baculoides (Brady) in his study of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. In our opinion, Brady’s specimens are conspecific with the figured material of Labutis (pl. 11: 14; pl. 23: 1–5) that shows an adont hinge and the characteristic circular cluster of four scars. Brady’s material was 0.75 mm long, while the Australian specimens were 0.71–0.73 mm long.

Hartmann (1988b) discussed the distribution and dispersal of ostracods of the Pacific islands and the surrounding continents of Australia and South America, based on data derived of a checklist constructed from a bibliographic review. Thus, based on Teeter (1975), it includes C. baculoides among the species distributed along West Atlantic- West Pacific. However, as above discussed, Teeter (1975) made a misidentification.