Taxonomic description of the male Tortanus (Atortus) murrayi Scott A., 1909 (Copepoda, Calanoida, Tortanidae) from the Great Nicobar Island, Indian Ocean

Abstract

Tortanus (Atortus) murrayi Scott A., 1909 is classified within the species group named murrayi, under the species complex of recticauda. The species was originally described by A. Scott based on five female and two male specimens from St.118 (Celebes Strait), St.85 (Manipa Strait), and St.213 (Selayar Island), Indonesia. Later, the species was described from Phillippine waters. Recent studies have provided new distributional records and detailed taxonomic descriptions based on female specimens from the Great Nicobar Subdivision, India. However, for accurate species identification, descriptions of both male and female specimens are essential. The species closely resembles T. (A.) scaphus Bowman, 1971, as well as T. (A.) sulawesiensis Mulyadi, Nishida and Ohtsuka, 2017. This study illustrates the distinguishing characteristics of the male specimens from its congeners.