Abstract
Spaniomolgus is a symbiotic genus of copepods of the poecilostomatoid family Rhynchomolgidae and is known to be associated with shallow-water reef-building hermatypic corals. Three species of this genus were previously found only in washings of Acropora and Stylophora in northern Madagascar. Four coral morphotypes of Stylophora pistillata (Pocilloporidae) were collected by SCUBA at 1 to 28 m depth in five sites in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea in 2013. Copepods found on these colonies were studied using light, confocal and scanning electron microscopy. Five new, and one known, species of the genus Spaniomolgus were discovered in washings and inside the galls of the hermatypic coral S. pistillata. The description of these new species (Spaniomolgus globus sp. n., S. stylophorus sp. n., S. dentatus sp. n., S. maculatus sp. n., and S. acutus sp. n.) and a key for the identification of all of its congeners is provided herein.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 71-95 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | ZooKeys |
Volume | 2018 |
Issue number | 791 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Mercedes Conradi et al.
Keywords
- Biodiversity
- Copepoda
- Coral reefs
- Crustacea
- Pocilloporidae
- Red Sea
- Symbiosis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Animal Science and Zoology