Two new subterranean Parastenocarididae (Crustacea, Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 8 years ago

ABSTRACT – Two new species of the genus Parastenocaris Kessler, 1913 are described from Australian subterranean waters, both based upon males and females. Parastenocaris eberhardi sp. novo has been found in two small caves in southwestern Western Australia. It belongs to the "minuta"-group of species, having five large spinules at base of the fourth leg endopod in male. The integumental window pattern of P. eberhardi is the same as for the first reported Australian representative (P. solitaria), which helps to establish its affinities too, since only females of the latter species were described. Parastenocaris eberhardi has a clear Eastern Gondwana connection, like many other Australian copepods of freshwater origins. Parastenocaris kimberleyensis sp. nov. is described from a single water-monitoring bore in the Kimberley district, northeastern Western Australia. It belongs to the "brevipes"-group of species, for which a key to world species is given. The present state of systematics within the family Parastenocarididae is briefly discussed.