First extensive account of the phylum Kinorhyncha from Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Caribbean Sea), with the description of four new species

Abstract

Several meiofaunal samplings along the continental slope of Central America and the Antilles through the Caribbean Sea have revealed a rich kinorhynch fauna of undescribed species. The present contribution includes the description of two new species of the allomalorhagid genera Cristaphyes Sánchez et al., 2016 and Fujuriphyes Sánchez et al., 2016 and two new species of the cyclorhagid genus Echinoderes Claparède, 1863, as well as the first record of the previously known Cristaphyes longicornis (Higgins, 1983), Echinoderes astridae Sørensen, 2014, Echinoderes horni Higgins, 1983, Echinoderes imperforatus Higgins, 1983 and Echinoderes spinifurca Sørensen et al., 2005 for Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola Island, Greater Antilles) together with new morphological information of the former. All the new species are formally described. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility of an expansion in the intraspecific morphological variation of C. longicornis, geographical remarks on the Caribbean Kinorhyncha and compare the morphological differences between the newly described species and their most similar congeners.