New species of Caromiobenella Jeon, Lee Soh, 2018 (Crustacea, Copepoda, Monstrilloida) from Chuja Island, Korea

Male monstrilloid copepods belonging to the genus Caromiobenella Jeon, Lee Soh, 2018 were collected from Chuja Island, Jeju, Korea, using a light trap. This paper describes a new species, Caromiobenella ohtsukai sp. n., based on the display of reduced, knob-like fifth legs on the ventral side of the first urosomal somite. A unique combination of male genitalia features and number of caudal setae further confirms its specificity. Molecular analysis based on two partial gene sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) and 28S ribosomal RNA (28S rRNA) also supports the designation of this species by showing a relevant divergence from known congeners. Caromiobenella ohtsukai sp. n. is the ninth member of this genus and also the ninth monstrilloid reported from Korea.We thank Dr Min Ho Seo (Marine Ecology Research Center, Korea) for providing the monstrilloid specimens from Chuja Island. We are also grateful to Drs Danielle Defaye (Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, France), Damia Jaume (Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Spain) and the anonymous reviewer for providing valuable comments, advice, and kind corrections to the English which overall improved the quality of the manuscript. This research was supported by the Marine Biotechnology Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) (No. 20170431). Wonchoel Lee was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF, NRF grant no. 2018R1D1A1B07050117)