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UTAS Home > IMAS Home > Image Key > Copepoda > Cyclopoida > Corycaeidae >  Urocorycaeus furcifer

Urocorycaeus furcifer

Claus (1863)

Download a fact sheet for Urocorycaeus furcifer (PDF 381KB)

Taxonomy

Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Maxillopoda
Subclass Copepoda
Order Cyclopoida
Family Corycaeidae
Genus Urocorycaeus
Species furcifer

Size

  • Female: 1.40 - 2.10 mm
  • Male: 1.20 - 1.46 mm

Distinguishing characters

  • Very long caudal rami
  • Female with rounded process on genital somite and 2 spines on anal somite
  • Male very similar to U. lautus but smaller

Male

  • Similar to U. lautus but much smaller
  • Caudal rami twice as long as genital somite and nearly 6 times as long as anal somite

Female

  • Caudal rami 3.5 times longer than genital somite and 6 times longer than anal somite
  • Prosome points extend to 1/3 of genital somite
  • Genital somite with a rounded process on the dorsal surface about the middle
  • Anal somite with 2 sharp spines on the dorsal surface at the distal margin

Distribution

  • Epipelagic – mesopelagic
  • Coastal and oceanic
  • Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans
  • Southern Ocean
  • Polar to tropical

Ecology

References

  • Bradford-Grieve, J. M., E. L. Markhaseva, et al. (1999). Copepoda. South Atlantic Zooplankton. D. Boltovskoy. Leiden, The Netherlands, Backhuys Publishers. 1: 869-1098.
  • Tanaka, O. (1957[1959]). On copepoda of the family Corycaeidae in Japanese waters 1957. Contx Dep Fish Kyushu Univ 3