KROEYERINA DEETSORUM N. SP. (COPEPODA: KROYERIIDAE) FROM THE OLFACTORY SACS OF ATLANTIC SHARPNOSE SHARKS (RHIZOPRIONODON TERRAENOVAE) CAPTURED IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AND NORTHWESTERN ATLANTIC AND FIRST REPORT OF COPEPODIDS REPRESENTING KROYERIIDAE

Kroeyerina deetsorum n. sp. (Copepoda: Kroyeriidae) is described from female and male specimens collected from the olfactory sacs of Atlantic sharpnose sharks, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae (Richardson, 1836), captured in the Gulf of Mexico and northwestern Atlantic. Kroeyerina deetsorum is easily distinguished from known congeners by the extremely small size of its adults (i.e., females about 1.2 mm total length and males about 1.0 mm total length). Kroeyerina deetsorum is also distinguished from its congeners by possessing a subquadrate rostrum without lobes or upturned horns. It is suspected that K. deetsorum belongs to a clade within Kroeyerina whose members only infect sharks. This report also provides first descriptions of a nauplius representing Kroeyerina and copepodids representing Kroyeriidae. The early-stage copepodid of K. deetsorum lacks a frontal organ and frontal filament and uses its chelate antennae to attach to its host.