A new species of Monocheres Stock (Copepoda, Siphonostomatoida, Asterocheridae) from shallow waters off Florida, USA: an unexpected discovery

The rare asterocherid copepod genus Monocheres, ectosymbionts of corals and sponges, contains only two species, one from Mauritius (Indian Ocean) and the other one from Brazil (western Atlantic). From the analysis of the digestive caecum contents of the benthic hesionid polychaete Hesione picta Müller, 1858, an adult female of an undescribed species of Monocheres was unexpectedly recovered; it is the third species of this rare asterocherid genus. The new species, Monocheres sergioi sp. n., has the distinctive reduction of the fifth leg as a process with a single seta. It differs from its two other congeners by several characters including the presence of an inner basipodal spine, the armature details of the third exopodal segment of leg 1, the shape of the cephalosome and pedigerous somites 3 and 4, and the ornamentation of the postero-lateral corners of the genital double-somite. The main synapomorphies include the presence of spinules along the posterior margin of the first leg coxal sclerite and the reduced, spiniform coxal seta on leg 4. The biology and feeding habits of the polychaete containing this specimen suggests that the copepod was ingested as an ectosymbiont from sponges or coral but it is also possible that it was consumed from an ophiurid echinoderm. This finding allows an expansion of the genus geographical distribution in the northwestern Atlantic. A key to the species of Monocheres is also provided.