A new species of Echinolaophonte and record of E. armiger (Gurney, 1927) (Crustacea, Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Laophontidae) from the Caribbean with a key to species

A new species of the harpacticoid copepod genus Echinolaophonte is described here from specimens obtained during a biological survey of Rodadero Bay, a coastal system in the Colombian Caribbean. This species has been previously recorded as E. armiger Gurney, 1927 in different geographic areas (Indian and Pacific Oceans). The Colombian specimens recognized as E. villabonae sp. n. and true E. armiger are deemed as distinct species based on differences in several features of which the shape of the rostrum and the dorsal spinous process on the prosome are among the most distinctive. These and other characters are shared by specimens recorded as E. armiger from Caroline Islands and Australia that are now incorporated to the new species. The finding of the true E. armiger, previously known only from Egypt, the Texan coast, Brazil, and possibly Bermuda, constitutes the first record of this species in the western Caribbean and a regional range extension. A key to the identification of the 13 known species of the genus is also provided.