PROC. BIOL. SOC. WASH. 98(1), 1985, pp. 255-280 NEW SPECIES OF ISOPODA FROM THE FLORIDA MIDDLEGROUNDS (CRUSTACEA: PERACARIDA) Allan Hooker Abstract. — Six new species of isopods, five asellotes and one anthurid, are de-scribed from the Florida Middlegrounds in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. One is described as a new genus, viz. Mexicope kens ley i. The other five species de-scribed are: Pleurocope floridensis, Munnogonium wilsoni, Janira biunguicula, Gnathostenetrioid.es pugio, and Mesanthura hopkinsi. The specimens were all collected from artificial habitats of mostly man-made materials. Isopod crustaceans may be an important part of the macro-epifauna and macro-infauna of various marine habitats. The state of our knowledge of these links in the food-web of the macro-and megafauna of the western Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico waters is generally limited to faunal checklists and inventories which usually deal with specific localities, e.g., Menzies and Frankenberg 1966, Hudson et al. 1970, Rouse 1970. There are also several regional reports and monographic accounts. Of these, the most comprehensive is that from Puerto Rico (Menzies and Glynn 1968). As part of a survey of the biota of the Florida Middlegrounds, members of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab participated in an inventory of the area's epibenthic fauna between June 1978 and January 1981. A large majority of the diminutive asellote isopods of this study were collected in artificial habitats placed on and retrieved from a hermatypic coral reef at a depth of approximately 30 meters. Habitat placement and retrieval was accomplished by means of SCUBA. The anthurid species was found in vacuum samples collected by the submersible research vessel Diaphus. The six new isopods are described and illustrated. Where practical, artificial dichotomous keys are presented. Materials and Methods All the specimens of this study were collected from the Florida Middlegrounds at 28°35'N, 84°16'W (see Fig. 1). A component of the West Florida shelf, 150 Km south of the north Florida coast and 160 km northwest of Tampa Bay, the Middlegrounds are influenced by the Caribbean-derived Loop Current, Florida Bay waters, and the West Florida Estuarine Gyre (Austin and Jones 1974). The area is characterised by coral reefs, projecting discontinuously from the bottom, not exceeding depths of 55 m (Jordan 1952). An abundant invertebrate community is supported by the area's reefs (Hopkins et al. 1 977) among which are this study's isopods. Nearly all the new species were obtained from artificial habitat cryptofaunal samples; however, selected sponges (especially Agelas dispar) and corals (especially Madracis decactis) played host to several of the collected specimens. Agelas dispar was found to host up to ten species of isopods, while Madracis decactis up to 14
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