A new species of Esola Edwards, 1891 (Crustacea, Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Laophontidae) from the Caribbean coast of Colombia

Abstract

A new species of the harpacticoid copepod genus Esola is described from specimens collected in Rodadero Beach, on Gaira Bay, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The species, E. wellsi sp. nov., is described, illustrated, and com­pared with its congeners. Esola wellsi sp. nov. differs from its known congeners in details of the armature of legs 1–4. It most closely resembles E. bulbifera (Norman, 1911) in the armature formula of P1–P5 but differs from the latter in several respects, including the female antennule segmentation (7-segmented in E. bulbifera but distinctly 6-segmented in E. wellsi sp. nov.) and in the shape and size of the male P3ENP2 apophysis, among other characters. This is the second species of the genus known from the Caribbean and the second record of Esola in the Northwestern Tropical Atlantic. The genus now contains eight species. A key to the known species of the genus is also included.