Archioncaea arabica gen. et sp. nov., a remarkable oncaeid (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida) from the northern Arabian Sea
Böttger-Schnack, R.; Huys, R. (1997). Archioncaea arabica gen. et sp. nov., a remarkable oncaeid (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida) from the northern Arabian Sea. Cah. Biol. Mar. 38(2): 79-89
In: Cahiers de Biologie Marine. Station Biologique de Roscoff: Paris. ISSN 0007-9723; e-ISSN 2262-3094
A new genus, Archioncaea, is proposed to accommodate a new species of Oncaeidae (Poecilostomatoida) collected from the deep northern Arabian Sea. A. arabica gen. et sp. nov. is known from females only and is considered the most primitive oncaeid copepod known to date on account of the combined presence of a trisetose exopod on leg 5 and a long inner coral sera on leg 1. Other unique plesiomorphic character states are found in the armature of the antennule, maxilla and maxilliped and in the presence of an endopodal surface suture marking the ancestral segmentation of the antenna. A. arabica differs from all other oncaeids in the naked endopodal claw of the maxilliped, the presence of distinctly 2-segmented endopods on all swimming legs and the absence of the outer basal seta of leg 5. The discovery of A. arabica is of major significance in assessing and polarizing the evolutionary changes of certain characters in the family, such as the ornamentation of mandible blades and the evolution of integumental conical processes on the swimming legs.
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