First record of Kinnecaris (Copepoda: Harpacticoida: Parastenocarididae) from Turkey and Thailand: description of three new species and emended definition of the genus

Three new species of hyporheic Parastenocarididae from Turkey and Thailand are described in this paper, based on their morphological features. Kinnecaris xanthi sp. nov. and Kinnecaris draconis sp. nov. were collected in Anatolic Turkey, respectively from one and two rivers; Kinnecaris iulianae sp. nov. was collected from several streams on Pha-Ngan Island (Thailand). The two new species from Turkey both lack the typical pitted integument and their P5 fused with the intercoxal sclerite in both sexes; they share a similar shape of the caudal rami in both sexes and of P4 in male. They differ in the ornamentation of the genital double-somite and the armature of A1 in females; in the ornamentation of the anal operculum; in the shape of P2 endopod of both sexes, and P3 endopod of females; in the ornamentation of the first exopodal segment of P3 in males, and in the armature of P4 endopod in females. Kinnecaris iulianae sp. nov. shares with the other species from the Oriental and Australian Region the presence of a pitted cuticle, the size and shape of caudal rami and the shape and ornamentation of P3 in the males, and is characterized by the ventral ornamentation of the genital double-somite and urosomites of the females, and by the lack of ornamentation at the insertion of the P4 endopod of both sexes. The descriptions of these three new Kinnecaris widen the distribution of the genus which, so far, was considered Gondwanian. In this paper, we also re-examine the diagnostic characters of the genus and their presence and/or variability in the known species of Kinnecaris, discuss the taxonomic position of Kinnecaris lyncaea and emend the genus diagnosis