Marbefia

Two females and a male (right) of the new genus Marbefia. The male copepod is slightly shorter and has modified antennules which are used to clasp onto the female during mating.

A new genus of benthic harpacticoid copepod has been named Marbefia to honour the outstanding contributions of MarBEF to our knowledge of marine biodiversity. Currently this genus consists of only 1 species, which was first described by Hammond in 1968 as Pseudonychocamptus carthyi. Since 1968 this species was recorded only once more in literature and the male had remained unknown. MarBEF scientists now recognised the classification error and renamed it Marbefia carthy.

Marbefi a carthyi Figure 4. Marbefi a carthyi (Hamond, 1968), comb. n.: A P1 ♀, anterior B P4 ♀, anterior [inner seta on enp-1 arrowed] C P4 endopod ♂, anterior [spinular rows on enp-1 arrowed] D distal part of P4 endopod

Marbefia is a small, slender copepod, highly ornamented, with a dense covering of fine hairs. They have 6 pairs of legs and display several sexual dimorphisms, with females (0.7 mm) being larger than males (0.58 mm), and differences between the swimming legs of males and females, with males missing the aditional seta (see fig 2).

Marbefia is currently known from the Southern North Sea and the Isles of Scilly. It usually is present in shallow pools under piers and in the presence of jellyfish.