Complementary description and record of Peltidium perturbatum Geddes, 1968 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Peltidiidae) from the Northwestern Tropical Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract During a survey of the zooplankton community of a protected coastal system on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, several adult females and immature individuals of the usually benthic or epiphytic harpacticoid copepod genus Peltidium, were recovered; they were identified as the Bahamian species P. perturbatum Geddes, 1968. This species has not been recorded from other areas of the Northwestern Tropical Atlantic (NWTA) region after its original description. Based on the examination of the Mexican Caribbean material, a complementary description of this species is presented including new details of antennules, caudal rami, leg 1, and cuticular ornamentation by using SEM analysis. Its finding in the Mexican Caribbean represents the southernmost record of the genus in the Americas and the first record for the Mexican copepod fauna. A key to the known species of the genus in the NWTA is also provided.