On New Species of Three Genera of Zosimeidae Seifried, 2003 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from the Deep Sea of the Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico, with Notes on the Phylogeny of the Family and on the Species Groups of Zosime Boeck, 1873

Abstract

Thirty-one nominal species of the benthic harpacticoid family Zosimeidae Seifried, 2003 are known from several coastal systems less than 200 m depth and the deep sea. Several copepods of the family Zosimeidae were found in deep-sea sediment samples from the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California (Mexico). The Mexican material represents new species of the genera Zosime Boeck, 1873, Peresime Dinet, 1974, Heterozosime Kim and Lee, 2021, and Acritozosime Kim and Lee, 2021. Standardized and complete descriptions for these new species are provided. Previous studies have shown that the genus Zosime can be subdivided into two species groups. We performed phylogenetic analyses (88 characters and 42 taxa) to test the naturalness of such subdivision, to subdivide these groupings further, and to shed some light on the phylogenetic relationships among the zosimeid genera and their species. Our results confirmed (i) the monophyly of previous subdivisions of the genus Zosime, and (ii) that the genus Zosime can be further subdivided into two major subgroups composed of several subordinate clades. Additionally, some comments on the phylogenetic hypotheses amongst the species of each genus reported here, are provided.