Abstract
A new species of poecilostomatoid copepod, Erebonaster spinulosus (Erebonasteridae), is described on the basis of a single female from a depth of 3 266 m at cold seeps near the base of the West Florida Escarpment in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Among its distinctive features are: the large body highly ornamented with setules and spinules, the rostrum with small median teeth and lateral setules, the claw of the second maxilla with a prominent knob on the concave margin, the maxilliped ornamented with setules and its claw bearing a digitiform process near the seta, the third segment of the exopod of leg 4 with the formula II,I,4, and the highly ornamented leg 5 having on the free segment a very long seta 9 times the length of the segment.
The genus Erebonaster now contains two species, the previously described Erebonaster protentipes found in 2000 m at the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, and the new Erebonaster spinulosus.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Humes, A. G., 1984. Benthoxynus spiculifer n. gen., n. sp. (Copepoda: Siphonostomatoida) associated with Vestimentifera (Pogonophora) at a deep-water geothermal vent off the coast of Washington. Can. J. Zool. 62: 2594–1599.
Humes, A. G., 1987. Copepoda from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Bull. Mar. Sci. 41: 645–788.
Humes, A. G., In press. Bythocheres prominulus, new genus, new species (Copepoda: Siphonostomatoida) from deep-water cold seeps at the West Florida Escarpment. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.
Humes, A. G. & M. Dojiri, 1980. A siphonostome copepod associated with a vestimentiferan from the Galapagos Rift and East Pacific Rise. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 93: 697–707.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Humes, A.G. A new poecilostomatoid copepod (Erebonasteridae) from deep-sea cold seeps at the West Florida Escarpment. Hydrobiologia 175, 175–182 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00006088
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00006088