Descriptions and Records of Marine Harpacticoid Copepods from Hokkaido,III

Abstract

As the sixth report from my serial taxonomic work on the marine harpacticoid fauna in Hokkaido, the present paper deals with two species of the genus Harpacticus Milne-Edwards (Family Harpacticidae) and six species of the genus Scutellidium Claus (Family Tisbidae). While no any species of the latter genus has been hitherto recorded in Japan, it becomes apparent that some of them are of specific ecological importance as the predominant member of epiphytic animal communities in certain algal zones around Hokkaido. In this connection, one of the most severe problems in such ecological works treating the meiofauna such as harpacticoids would be how to carry out the precise identification of each species without dissection. This problem can be solved by using of certain external characters, which have been ignored or underestimated in the previous taxonomy within the genus. These useful taxonomic characters will be fully described in every the species reported in the following text. The specimens were collected from Oshoro near Otaru on the Japan Sea coast, Akkeshi and Muroran, both on the Pacific coast of Hokkaido. The type specimens were