Anoplodelphys galli Lafargue and Laubier, 1978

Boxshall, Geoff A. & Marchenkov, Andrey, 2007, A revision of the Brementia - group of genera (Copepoda: Notodelphyidae), with descriptions of a new genus and four new species, Zootaxa 1459, pp. 37-68 : 47-48

Anoplodelphys galli Lafargue and Laubier, 1978

Material examined: none.

Differential Diagnosis: Body with indistinct segmentation. Cephalosome with narrow frontal margin bearing rostrum. Rostrum forming simple, inflated lobe, without accessory median lobe. Post-rostral median lobe absent. Labrum inflated, forming elongate tapering lobe. Lateral margin of cephalosome expanded ventrally to form ridge-like swelling produced into process at posterior end. Antennomedial lobe lacking. Metasome elongate with about 20% of length extending posterior to level of origin of leg 4: metasomal somites bearing legs ventrally near lateral margins. No mid-ventral processes present between legs. Urosome small, unsegmented, located terminally, with median anal incision; bearing partly incorporated caudal rami armed with setae distally. Surface of body, rostrum, labrum, cephalosomic processes and legs densely ornamented with surface setules arranged in triads (with long central setule and short setules either side).

Antennule unsegmented. Antenna 2-segmented, with triangular basal segment and distal subchela incorporating sclerotised distal claw, armed with 2 vestigial setal elements. Mandible to maxilliped lacking. Legs 1–4 biramous; each comprising short basal part (derived from protopod), largely incorporated into somite, with unsegmented, lobate rami. Ratios of gaps between legs along metasome as in Table 2 . Leg 5 not observed.

Body length of female 0.70–2.85 mm. Male unknown.

Remarks: Lafargue and Laubier (1978a) concluded that A. galli and A. incerta (both forms) could be separated only by the details of their cuticular ornamentation. They showed that a triad-setule arrangement (a large central setule with 1 shorter setule on each side) was characteristic for A. galli . Their decision to base species-level discrimination on cuticular ornamentation patterns has not been tested subsequently, although their initial conclusions were based on the study of over 40 specimens (30 specimens of A. galli and 13 specimens of A. incerta (both forms) from across the four Didemnum host species).

We regard the spacing of the legs along the metasome as an important character for species discrimination. Anoplodelphys galli and Anoplodelphys cf. galli from Didemnum peyrefittense , D. maculosum , D. fulgens and D. protectum all share a similar pattern of leg distribution, with legs 1 and 2 separated by only 9– 10% of the overall metasomal length, as compared to 18% in A. incerta ( Table 2 ). This character is used here to restrict the definition of A. incerta and to distinguish it from A. galli .