A revision of the genus Arenopontia Kunz, 1937 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Arenopontiidae), including the description of five new species
Author
Sak, Serdar
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Literature, Balıkesir University, Balıkesir, Türkiye.
Author
Karaytuğ, Süphan
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mersin University, Mersin, Türkiye.
Author
Huys, Rony
Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW 7 5 BD, UK.
text
Zootaxa
2024
2024-04-04
5433
1
1
50
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5433.1.1
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5433.1.1
1175-5326
10953646
06E5A735-A276-41D7-A9EE-B09642D953B6
Arenopontia pontica
Apostolov, 1969
Original description.
Apostolov (1969)
: 125–127, Abb. 36–45.
Type
locality.
Bulgaria
, south of
Lozenetz
,
Düni Beach
;
5 m
from low-tide mark.
Body length.
420 μm (
♀
), 500 μm (
♂
).
Remarks.
Sak
et al.
(2008)
discussed the numerous inconsistencies in
Apostolov’s (1969)
description of
A. pontica
. If correct, several features that were illustrated (
e.g.
bisetose antennary exopod; P1 exp-2 with outer spine; P2–P3 exp-2 with inner seta) would exclude the species from the
Arenopontiidae
.
Apostolov (1969)
recognized a close relationship with
A. subterranea
,
A. indica
and
A.
sp.
sensu
Griga (1964)
but according to
Sak
et al.
(2008)
it is impossible to make any positive statement on the identity and possible relationships of
A. pontica
other than that it can be assigned to the genus
Arenopontia
. Pending redescription, they considered it a
species inquirenda
which is confirmed here. There is no evidence to substantiate conspecificity with
A. subterranea
as claimed by
Marinov (1971)
and
Apostolov (1973)
or to regard it as a subspecies of the latter (
Apostolov, 1973
). It should also be noted that
Apostolov’s (1969)
specimens are remarkably large for the genus.