Giesbrecht, 1888
Short Description:
Euchirella galeata is an aetideid calanoid copepod known after both sexes (female 5.20-6.70 mm and male 4.7-5.33 mm) from epipelagic and mesopelagic.
Taxonomic Description:
Female. Total length 5.20-6.70 mm. Cephalothorax 4-5 times longer than abdomen. Crest present, rather high. Rostrum straight, robust (lateral view). Genital segment slightly wider than long; abruptly asymmetrical, left side (dorsal view) with large projection along the whole segment length. A1 longer than body by 2 last segments (Vervoort (1949) noted A1 reaching to distal border of Abd3). Ri A2 about 3 times shorter than Re, coxo- and basipodite, as well as Ri1 A2 with 1 seta each, Ri2 A2 with 6 setae on each lobe. Md palp base and Ri1 Md without setae, Ri2 Md with 9 setae. Mx1 gnathobase with 3 setae on posterior surface, second and third lobes with 4 and 2 (?) setae respectively. On Mx1 protopodite near the Ri base 3 setae, on Ri 4 setae, on Re 11, and on external lobe 6 setae. Mx2 and Mxp typical of the genus. First external spine on Re P1 long, reaching the last third of second external spine. P2-P4 typical of the genus. P4 coxopodite with 1 spine.
Male. (Description after Tanaka and Omori (1969a) with modifications). Total length 4.70-5.33 mm. Cephalothorax nearly 4 times longer than abdomen. Crest significantly lower than in females, rostrum slightly larger. Oral parts and P1-P4 close to that in E. bitumida.
Vertical distribution:
The species is usually found in upper 500 m (Sewell, 1929; Vervoort, 1949; Tanaka and Omori, 1969a, b), in the region of the Malay Archipelago it was found near surface (Von Vaupel Klein, 1984).
Geographical distribution:
Most probably it is distributed in the Pacific and Indian oceans. To specify the distributional area in further detail is difficult, because species might be mixed with E. grandicornis , as was mentioned earlier (Von Vaupel Klein, 1984).
Type locality: the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean (Giesbrecht, 1888).
Material examined:
2 females from samples: 401, 402. See examined samples module.