Talpacoxa brandini gen. et sp. nov. a new Nannopodidae Brady, 1880 (Copepoda: Harpacticoida) from submersed sands of Pontal do Sul (Paraná, Brazil)

A new genus of Nannopodidae is described. Talpacoxa brandini gen. et sp. nov. is a typical sand-dwelling species with modified burrowing first legs. The new genus can be diagnosed by leg 1 transformed into a burrowing structure; coxa hypertrophied, longer than the exopod and the endopod, with a well-developed crista, downwardly extended, with a bifid tip; exopod one-segmented, strong, rectangular, ornamented with various cuneiform spinules; endopod two-segmented, second endopodal segment with two distal elements; intercoxal plate well developed, longer than the exopod and the endopod. Leg two to leg four reduced, with two-segmented exopod and one-segmented endopod; limbs laterally displaced with no trace of intercoxal plate. Leg five exopod one-segmented; intercoxal plate reduced. The new genus is tentatively included within Nannopodidae because of some putative synapomorphies shared with the genera Rosacletodes, Huntemannia, Laophontisochra and Acuticoxa.