ARENOPONTIIDAE Martinez Arbizu & Moura, 1994


According to the most recent classification (Sak et al. 2008; 2024) the family currently accommodates seven valid genera: Arenopontia Kunz, 1937; Pararenopontia Sak, 2004; Psammoleptastacus Pennak, 1942; Neoleptastacus Nicholls, 1945; Mesopontia Sak, Huys & Karaytug, 2008; Onychopontia Sak, Huys & Karaytug, 2008. and Phreatipontia Sak et al. 2024.


ARENOPONTIA Kunz, 1937

The high level taxonomy of the genus Arenopontia (subg. Neoleptastacus) is more problematic. In former times (Kunz 1937; Nicholls 1945) it was placed in the family Canthocamptidae. Successively, Lang (1948) transferred it to the family Cylindropsyllidae. After Lang's monograph many new genera of the family Cylindropsyllidae were described, and the subfamily concept was no longer tenable (Huys and Conroy-Dalton 1993). Martinez Arbizu and Moura (1994) raised Lang's subfamily Leptopontiinae to family status, including the subfamilies Leptopontiinae, Psammopsyllinae and a new subfamily Arenopontiinae (in which was placed only the genus Arenopontia). In that revision the subfamily Cylindropsyllinae was allocated to the family Canthocamptidae. A similar opinion was presented later by Moura and Pottek (1998).

The subgeneric division of Arenopontia Kunz, 1937 has been recently abolished by Sak et al. (2008) , and both Arenopontia and Neoleptastacus Nicholls, 1945 have been upgraded to full generic rank

  • Arenopontia adriatica Sak et al., 2024
  • Arenopontia africana Chappuis & Rouch, 1960 [Ghana] (Neoleptastacus africanus (Chappuis & Rouch, 1961) (synonym)
  • Arenopontia anatolica Sak et al., 2024
  • Arenopontia (A.) arenarida (Pennak, 1942) [USA; intertidal sand] (=Psammoleptastacus arenaridus Pennak, 1942
  • Arenopontia basibuyuki Sak et al., 2024
  • Arenopontia (A.) clasingi Mielke, 1985
  • Arenopontia (A.) dillonbeachia Lang, 1965 [USA; marine interstitial] (=Mesopontia dillonbeachia (Lang, 1965)
  • Arenopontia gunduzi Sak et al., 2024
  • Arenopontia (A.) intermedia Rouch, 1962 (=Onychopontia intermedia (Rouch, 1962)
  • Arenopontia (A.) nesaie Cottarelli, 1975 [Italy, Sardinia, Egypt; marine sand]
  • Arenopontia (A.) orientalis (Krishnaswamy, 1957) (=Onychopontia orientalis (Krishnaswamy, 1957)
  • Arenopontia (A.) pacifica Mielke, 1985 (=Neoleptastacus pacificus (Mielke, 1985)
  • Arenopontia (A.) peteraxi Mielke, 1982 (=Onychopontia peteraxi (Mielke, 1982)
  • Arenopontia pontica Apostolov, 1969 [Bulgarie; marine] (taxon inquirendum)
  • Arenopontia (A.) problematica Masry, 1970 [Israel; marine sand]
  • Arenopontia (A.) riedli Lindgren, 1976 [USA; marine interstitial]
  • Arenopontia syltensis Sak et al., 2024
  • Arenopontia (A.) spicata Mielke, 1985
  • Arenopontia (A.) subterranea Kunz, 1937 [Germany; ground waters]
  • Arenopontia (A.) stygia Noodt, 1955 (=Psammoleptastacus stygius (Noodt, 1955)


    NEOLEPTASTACUS Nicholls, 1945

    Arenopontia (Neoleptastacus) Pararenopontia Bodiou & Colomines, 1986 (junior synonym according to Sak, Huys & Karaytug, 2008)

    Nicholls (1945) established the genus Neoleptastacus to accomodate N. spinicaudatus from Western Australia. Unfortunately this genus was not included in the harpacticoid world monograph of Lang (1948). Perhaps because of that Chappuis (1952) described one new species from Madagascar in the genus Arenopontia (Arenopontia australis), although it was obvious that the new species belonged to the genus Neoleptastacus. Later on , Chappuis (1954) cited Nicholls' paper when he described another new species (Arenopontia acantha), without mention to the genus Neoleptastacus. Successively, he cited Nicholls' paper correctly (Chappuis 1954) and synonymized the genus Neoleptastacus with Arenopontia. This last opinion was supported by many authors (Noodt 1955; Chappuis and Delamare Deboutteville 1956; Chappuis 1958; Chappuis and Rouch 1961; Bodin 1967; Bozic 1967; Rao 1967; Ito 1968; Masry 1970; Cottarelli 1973; Mielke 1987).

    The generic status of Neoleptastacus was supported only by Krishnaswamy (1957). As a compromise, Wells (1967) proposed a subgeneric status for Neoleptastacus, within the range of the genus Arenopontia. The Wells's proposition has been approved until now (Kunz 1971; Ito 1978; Bodiou and Colomines 1986; Wells 1986; Apostolov and Marinov 1988; Cottarelli et al. 1994; Martinez Arbizu and Moura 1994; Huys and Conroy-Dalton 1996).

  • Neoleptastacus abbreviatus (Sak et al, 2024)
  • Neoleptastacus accraensis (Lang, 1965) (species inquirenda)
  • Neoleptastacus angolensis (Kunz, 1971)
  • Neoleptastacus acantha acantha Chappuis, 1954 [north Africa, Italy; marine sand]
  • Neoleptastacus acantha accraensis Lang, 1965 [USA; marine sand] *
  • Neoleptastacus africanus (Chappuis & Rouch, 1961)
  • Neoleptastacus angolensis (Kunz, 1971) (Sak et al. 2024)
  • Neoleptastacus australis Chappuis, 1952 [Madagascar; psammon]
  • Neoleptastacus breviarticulata (Mielke, 1975) [north Europe; marine sand] (species inquirendae)***
  • Neoleptastacus africana Chappuis & Rouch, 1961
  • Neoleptastacus africana angolensis Kunz, 1971a
  • Neoleptastacus chaufriassei Bodiou & Colomines, 1986 [Crozet island; marine interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus chilensis (Sak et al.)2024
  • Neoleptastacus clasingi (Mielke, 1985) [Chile; marine interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus emendatus Sak et al. 2024
  • Neoleptastacus gussoae Cottarelli, 1973 [Cuba; marine coastal interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus huysi Karanovic, 2000 [Montenegro; marine interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus indicus (Rao, 1967)
  • Neoleptastacus ornamentus (Mielke, 1987)
  • Neoleptastacus pacificus (Mielke, 1985)
  • Neoleptastacus phreatica Cottarelli, et al., 1994
  • Neoleptastacus indica Rao, 1967 [Asia; psammon]
  • Neoleptastacus ishikarianus Ito, 1968 [Japan; marine sand]
  • Neoleptastacus longiremis Chappuis, 1954 [Madagascar; marine psammon]
  • Neoleptastacus ornamentus Mielke, 1987 [Chile; marine sand]
  • Neoleptastacus pacifica (Mielke, 1985) [Chile; marine interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus panamensis Sak et al. 2924
  • Neoleptastacus phreatica (Cottarelli, Bruno & Venanzetti, 1994) [Italy, Sardinia; ground fresh waters]
  • Neoleptastacus pseudishikarianus Sak et al. 2024
  • Neoleptastacus rectus Sak et al. 2024
  • Neoleptastacus reductaspina Mielke, 1987 [Chile; marine sand]
  • Neoleptastacus sakagamii Ito, 1978 [Japan; marine interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus secundus (Krishnaswamy, 1957) [India; marine sand] (species inquirendae)
  • Neoleptastacus speluncae Cottarelli, Bruno & Venanzetti, 1994 [Italy, Sardinia; ground fresh waters]
  • Neoleptastacus spicatus (Mielke, 1985) [Chile; marine interstitial]
  • Neoleptastacus spinicaudatus (Nicholls, 1945) [West Australia; marine psammon]
  • Neoleptastacus supersetosus Sak et al., 2024
  • Neoleptastacus trisetosus (Milke, 1982) [Galapagos; marine interstitial] ***

    * According to Karanovic (2000) = Neoleptastacus accraensis Lang, 1965
    *** Should be ascribed to the genus Pararenopontia Bodiou & Colomines, 1986 (Wells, 2007)


    WORLD KEY TO SPECIES IN: Karanovic T. 2000. Arenopontia (Neoleptastacus) huysi,sp. nov. (Crustacea, Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from marine interstitial of Montenegro (S.E. Europe). Helgol. Mar. Res., 54: 33-38


    PARARENOPONTIA Sak, 2004

  • Pararenopontia africana africana Chappuis & Rouch, 1961 [Africa; marine psammon]
  • Pararenopontia africana angolensis Kunz, 1971 [Africa, Angol; marine sand]
  • Pararenopontia trisetosa (Mielke, 1982)

    Recently Sak (2004) transferred Pararenopontia in the family Leptopontidae

    INCERTAE SEDIS

  • Arenopontia (?) ishikariana Ito sensu Mielke, 1987; Arenopontia (Pararenopontia) breviarticulata (Mielke, 1975


    PSAMMOLEPTASTACUS Pennak, 1942

  • Psammoletastacus arenaridus Pennak, 1942
  • Psammoletastacus barani Sak et al., 2008 [Turkey, Black Sea]
  • Psammoleptastacus stygia (Noodt, 1955) [France; interstitial]


    MESOPONTIA Sak et al., 2008

  • Mesopontia dillonbeachia Lang, 1965 [USA; marine interstitial]


    ONYCHOPONTIA Sak et al., 2008

  • Onychopontia orientalis (Krishnaswamy, 1957) [India; psammon]
  • Onychopontia intermedia (Rouch, 1962) [Brazil; marine interstitial]
  • Onychopontia nichollsi Sak et al., 2008 [West Australia; marine psammon]
  • Onychopontia peteraxi (Mielke, 1982) [Galapagos; marine interstitial]


    PHREATIPONTIA Sak et al. 2024

  • Preatipontia preatica Sak et al. 2024 (syn. Neoleptatacus phreatica)
  • Preatipontia speluncae Sak et al. 2024 (syn. Neoleptostacus speluncae)




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