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Abstract
To date, only two species are known in the laophontid genus Tapholeon Wells, Citation1967 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida). In the present contribution, a redescription of the type species T. ornatus Wells, Citation1967, based on the type material, is provided. Furthermore, two new species are described from the coast of Kenya, T. inconspicuus sp. nov. and T. tenuis sp. nov. Two species, formerly attributed to Asellopsis Brady and Robertson, 1873 (namely A. arenicola Chappuis, Citation1954 and A. chappuisius Krishnaswamy, Citation1957), are allocated to Tapholeon based on the absence of sexual dimorphism in the swimming legs P2–P4. The former of the two species is redescribed based on additional material from the Comoros. An updated generic diagnosis and a key to the six species of Tapholeon are included.
Acknowledgements
The first and last authors acknowledge grants, as aspirant and postdoctoral fellow, respectively, from the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO‐Flanders, Belgium). The sampling campaign in Kenya was organized in the frame of the research project G.0199.03 ‘A Comparative Study of the Meio‐Epifauna Associated with Tropical and Cold‐water Coral Reefs’, sponsored by the same Fund for Scientific Research. Miranda Lowe (Natural History Museum, London) is kindly thanked for lending the type material examined in this study. Dr P. J. Hayward and two anonymous reviewers are thanked for checking our manuscript.