Dicrotrichura tricincta gen. et spec. nov.: A new tantulocaridan (Crustacea: Maxillopoda) from the Mediterranean deep waters off Corsica

The new genus and species, Dicrotrichura tricincta, is described from deep mud (1220 m) in the Ligurian Sea (western Mediterranean). It is the first tantulocaridan not found to be attached to a crustacean host but free living in the sediment. It is assigned to the Deoterthridae on the basis of the absence of a rostrum, the abdominal segmentation and the characteristic cephalic pore pattern. It can be distinguished from all known tantulocaridans in the presence of peculiar, bi-articulated caudal setae and the difference in thoracopodal setation between leg 2 and legs 3-5. Some new structures located on the attachment disc are described for the first time. D. tricincta is the second tantulocaridan to be recorded from the Mediterranean.