Description of postembryonic developmental stages of Pseudodiaptomus koreanus Soh, Kwon, Lee & Yoon, 2012 (Copepoda, Calanoida, Pseudodiaptomidae)

Abstract

The complete postembryonic development ofPseudodiaptomus koreanusSoh, Kwon, Lee & Yoon, 2012 (Copepoda, Calanoida) comprises six naupliar and six copepodid stages of which the last is the adult. The descriptions were based on laboratory-reared nauplii and copepodids and also on copepodids collected by plankton net, all sourced from the Seomjin River estuary in southern Korea. Nauplius and copepodid stages ofP. koreanusare very similar to those of the previously described species ofPseudodiaptomus. However, of all the characteristics, it is the shape and number of setae on the terminal segments of the antennules in the late naupliar stages, and the shape and somites of the body and the segmentation and number of setae of the exo- and endopods of the swimming legs from copepodid stages I to V, which are most useful in reconstructing relationships among the eightPseudodiaptomusspp. reared until now.