Diversity of the monstrilloida (Crustacea: copepoda)

Monstrilloid copepods are protelean parasites of different groups of marine benthic invertebrates. Only their first naupliar, preadult, and adult phases are planktonic. Monstrilloids are currently represented by more than 115 nominal species contained in four genera. Its taxonomic knowledge has been hampered by nomenclatural and descriptive problems derived from their peculiar ontogeny and poor definitions of taxa. One of the most important difficulties is that of matching males to females. The only reliable methods to link the sexes of a species are the confirmation of particular apomorphies shared by both sexes, finding both sexes in the same host or as a pre-copulatory male-female pair in the plankton, or by the use of molecular markers. A general overview of the morphology of the group and its life cycle is provided herein. Recently, upgraded descriptive standards have been established and the relevance of redescribing taxa based on type and museum specimens has been demonstrated.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Suárez Morales, Eduardo Doctor autor/a 2036
Format:	Texto biblioteca
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Copépodos, Crustáceos, Monstrilloida,
Online Access:	http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jsessionid=6FF8B657C8AD5C1293A076CA3C17ED1E?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022915&representation=PDF
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