Contoura, Kim & Boxshall, 2020

Kim, Il-Hoi & Boxshall, Geoff A., 2020, Untold diversity: the astonishing species richness of the Notodelphyidae (Copepoda: Cyclopoida), a family of symbiotic copepods associated with ascidians (Tunicata), Megataxa 4 (1), pp. 1-6 : 566

Contoura gen. nov.

Diagnosis. Body inflated. Urosome greatly reduced, indistinctly 1- or 2-segmented. Caudal rami rudimentary, not articulated from abdomen, lacking setae. Rostrum welldeveloped. Antennule short and broad, unsegmented or partially segmented; setae vestigial. Antenna 3-segmented, consisting of coxa, basis, and unsegmented endopod with small terminal claw. Labrum broad. Mandible consisting of coxa and palp; coxa with broad gnathobase with uneven, serrate medial margin; palp unsegmented, unilobate with vestigial exopod or lacking trace of exopod, armed with few rudimentary setae. Maxillule consisting of precoxa and palp; precoxa bearing 3 large, spiniform processes on arthrite; palp distally bilobed with large subdistal seta on medial margin and vestigial or transformed setae on distal lobes. Maxilla 4-segmented, comprising syncoxa, basis, and 2-segmented endopod; syncoxawith 1 or 2 smallsetae; basis with large, robust claw plus 1 seta; endopod with 3 or 4 small setae. Maxilliped as small lobe tipped with 1 or 2 setae. Leg 1 as unsegmented and unarmed plate, obscurely bilobed distally, or bearing lobe distally. Leg 2 absent or represented by small lobe. Legs 3 and 4 absent. Leg 5 represented by pair of conical, sclerotized processes.

Type species. Contoura globosa gen. et sp. nov. by original designation.

Other included species. Contoura elliptica gen. et sp. nov.

Etymology. The generic name is a combination of Greek cont (=short) and ur (=tail) and alludes to the short urosome of the new genus. Gender feminine.

Remarks. Two species are included in the new genus Contoura . Although they have remarkably different body form in the adult female, their cephalic appendages are highly derived and astonishingly similar. The most outstanding feature of the new genus is the presence of 3 large, spiniform teeth on the precoxal arthrite of the maxillule. The rudimentary urosome, the leaf-like antennule, the enlarged claw on the basis of the maxilla, the rudimentary leg 1, and the transformed leg 5 consisting of paired conical processes are all additional derived features of the new genus. Both speciesof Contoura gen. nov. are distributed in the western Atlantic.