Arenopontiidae Martínez Arbizu & Moura, 1994

Sak, Serdar, Karaytuğ, Süphan & Huys, Rony, 2024, A revision of the genus Arenopontia Kunz, 1937 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Arenopontiidae), including the description of five new species, Zootaxa 5433 (1), pp. 1-50 : 3

Family Arenopontiidae Martínez Arbizu & Moura, 1994

No new species or illustrated records have been added since Sak et al. (2008). Readers are advised to consult this publication for a review of the taxonomic history of the family and its current generic composition. A revision of the most species-rich genus, Neoleptastacus Nicholls, 1945 , will be published elsewhere (Sak et al. in prep.).

Although members of the Arenopontiidae are predominantly littoral, inhabiting sandy beaches in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, some species have occasionally been reported from subtidal habitats, particularly in northwestern Europe (e.g. Van Damme & Heip 1976; Herman et al. 1986; Smol et al. 1989; Huys et al. 1992; Bonne 2003; Willems et al. 2009). One extreme example is the discovery of Psammoleptastacus arenaridus Pennak, 1942 at a depth of 100 m north of Cape Hatteras off the coast of North Carolina ( Coull 1971) but this record requires verification. Except for the Parastenocarididae which inhabit fresh groundwater, harpacticoid families that accommodate exclusively interstitial species are typically restricted to the marine environment. This habitat preference primarily applies also to the Arenopontiidae although some members of Arenopontia have occasionally been reported to make incursions into freshwater and oligohaline habitats. Noodt (1962) recorded an unidentified species of Arenopontia from a primarily oligohaline lake near La Libertad in El Salvador while Cottarelli et al. (1994, 1998) collected A. cfr. subterranea from a number of localities with freshwater influence in the Latium and Viterbo provinces in Italy.