A new Allocyclopina species (Copepoda, Cyclopioida, Cyclopinidae) from a hyporheic zone of the River Godavari, India, and comments on the morphological characters of the genus
Résumé
A new species of the genus Allocyclopina Kiefer, 1954 (Copepoda, Cyclopoida) is described from the brackish hyporheic zone of the River Godavari at Kotipalli, a small coastal village near Ramachandrapuram town in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh State, India. This little-known genus, belonging to the large family Cyclopinidae, was hitherto represented by only three interstitial species: A. madagassica Kiefer, 1954, from Madagascar, A. ambigua Kiefer, 1960, from Reunion Island, and A. australiensis Karanovic, 2008, from South Australia. Allocyclopina inopinata new species, is the fourth representative of the genus and the first Asian representative of the genus. The specimens of A. inopinata n. sp., show a unique combination of both plesiomorphic and apomorphic character states in the female: first pedigerous somite free; antennule ten-segmented; antenna with an exopodal seta and a single inner seta on coxobasis; mandibular basis with one inner seta; maxillulary endopodite with seven setae, without coxal endite; legs 1-4 three-segmented, with last exopodite spine formula 3.4.4.3; second endopodal segment of leg 1 with a single seta, in both sexes; intercoxal plate of leg 5 reduced; leg 6 with two elements; genital double-somite showing two lateral copulatory pores, corresponding to two seminal receptacles, near its anterior margin; furcal rami with six setae each. The generic diagnosis of Allocyclopina is emended, and some morphological affinities with other genera in the family "Cyclopinidae" sensu lato are discussed. The status of A. australiensis is briefly discussed