Platycopioida is the first order to diverge from the main lineage of copepods, retaining numerous, remarkable plesiomorphic characters. It consists of one family (Platicopiidae Sars, 1911) and four genera, Platycopia, Nanocopia, Sarsicopia and Antrisocopia, with species retricted to the hyperbenthic zone (Platycopia), anchialine caves (Nanocopia, Antrisocopia), and to the Arctic Ocean (Sarsicopia).

PLATYCOPIA Sars, 1911

The genus Platycopia is not a true stygobitic taxon, but its distribution area, as that of many other hyperbenthic copepods (Paramisophria, Stephos, Pseudocyclops, etc. ), seem to place above full tethyan tracks. The genus includes eight species, all distributed in the hyperbenthic zone in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans.

[from Ohtsuka et al., 1998, mod.]

Platycopia compacta Ohtsuka S., Soh H.Y. & H. Ueda, 1998 [Japan, sea waters] (1) Platycopia inornata Fosshagen, 1972 [Bahamas; coastal waters] (7) Platycopia orientalis Ohtsuka & Boxshall, 1994 [Jpan; sea waters] (2) Platycopia perplexa Sars, 1911 [north Europe, sea waters] (3, 4) Platycopia pygmaea Sars, 1919 [north Europe, sea waters] (3) Platycopia robusta Andronov, 1985 [Africa, Mauritania; coastal waters] (5) Platycopia sarsi Wilson, 1946 [USA; coastal waters] (6) Platycopia tumida Wilson, 1935 [USA; coastal waters] (6)

ANTRISOCOPIA Fosshagen, 1985