Two new Parastenocarididae (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from India: Parastenocaris muvattupuzha n. sp. from a river and P. kotumsarensis n. sp. from a cave

Abstract

To date, 11 harpacticoid species from the family Parastenocarididae are known to occur on the Indian subcontinent. Of these, ten species belong to the genus Parastenocaris Kessler, 1913, and one to the genus Kinnecaris Jakobi, 1972. Two new species of the genus Parastenocaris, viz. P. muvattupuzha n. sp. and P. kotumsarensis n. sp., are described and illustrated herein from India and their taxonomic position within the genus Parastenocaris discussed. Parastenocaris muvattupuzha n. sp. was found in the hyporheic zone of the River Muvattupuzha in the State of Kerala, southwestern India. Having a unique set of morphological characters, this new species does not perfectly fit into any of the known Parastenocaris species-groups; it is treated as Parastenocaris s. l. It stands out in the genus, inter alia, by the presence of a distinct unguiform process at the inner distal corner of each caudal ramus in both sexes and a club-shaped, distally spinulose leg 4 endopod in the male. Parastenocaris kotumsarensis n. sp. is described based on specimens collected from Kotumsar Cave in the State of Chhattisgarh, central India. This species shares features with the brevipes-group of Parastenocaris (i.e. similar endopodal complex of the male leg 4) and the recently redefined genus Kinnecaris (i.e. presence of the triangular platelike fifth legs, which are similar in both sexes, and paired ventrolateral integumental windows on the antepenultimate and penultimate urosomites). Hence, for the time being, this species, like the preceding one, is also treated as Parastenocaris s. l. Parastenocaris kotumsarensis n. sp. is the first cavernicolous parastenocaridid from India and, on a broader geographical scale, from southern Asia.