Species Nitocra affinis Gurney, 1927

Museums

Regional Maps

• Nitocra affinis Gurney, R. 1927. Report on the Crustacea. Copepoda (littoral and semiparasitic). Zoological Results of the Cambridge Expedition to the Suez Canal, 1924, no. 35. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 22: 451-577 [546-549].

 

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Cosmopolitan; found in the Suez Canal, Bermuda, Ireland, Ifaluk Atoll, the Caroline Islands; SA, Lake Coobowie on Yorke Peninsula.

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

Neotropical Region

• Bermuda

Palaearctic Region

• Ireland

Ecological Descriptors

Brackish water, marine.

Extra Ecological Information

Found on seagrasses such as Ruppia sp. and Heterozostera tasmanica.

 

Diagnosis

Female: Length 0.61 mm. Abdominal somites 1 and 2 almost completely separated by suture. Somites with two lateral rows of spinules, the posterior row stronger and continued to the ventral surface. In somite 4 these spinules becoming very minute, are conitinued across the midline. Anal operculum with a series of large spines. Furcal rami much broader than long (14x9 in dorsal view), with a group of large spines overhanging them dorsally on somite 5. A2 exopod 1-segmented, broadening distally, with 3 setae. P1 endopod-1 much longer than the exopod. P4 exopod-3 with 3 inner setae, the middle one transformed into a very long powerful spine. Setal formulae for swimming legs:
endopod exopod
P2 1 1 1.2.1 0 1 2.1.4
P3 1 1 2.2.1 0 1 2.1.4
P4 1 1 2.2.1 0 1 3.1.4

P5 baseoendopod, endopodal lobe with 5 spines, exopod narrow and tapering with 6 setae.

Male: Length 0.48 mm. Differs little from the female, but has larger spines on the ventral surface of the abdomen, forming complete transverse rows on somites 2, 3 and 4.Those on somite 4 smaller than those on somites 2 and 3. A1 as for female. P3 exopod-3 without modified spine. P5 baseoendopod, endopodal lobe with 4 spines, exopod with 6 setae.

(Description taken from Gurney, 1927)

 

General References

Hamond, R. 1973. A review of Cletodes (Crustacea: Harpacticoida), with the description of a new species from Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 16: 471-483 (Australian record of species)

Vervoot, W. 1964. Free-living Copepoda from Ifaluk Atoll, in the Carolina Islands. Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum Bulletin 236: 1-431

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
26-Jul-2012		26-Jul-2012	MODIFIED
		30-Mar-2010	MODIFIED