THE PERSISTENCE OF AN ANCIENT MARINE FAUNA IN MEDITERRANEAN WATERS - NEW EVIDENCE FROM MISOPHRIOID COPEPODS LIVING IN ANCHIHALINE CAVES

Two new species of misophrioid copepods are described from anchihaline cave habitats. Both sexes of Speleophiropsis canariensis are describe d from material collected on Lanzarote, Canary Is. Expansophria sarda is described from a single male collected on Sardinia. Both genera hav e widely disjunct distributions which are broadly Tethyan in character . Species of both genera are stenotopic and appear to be restricted to hypogean habitats of near-marine salinities. The presence of species of both genera on Mediterranean islands is interpreted as evidence of the persistence of marine fauna throughout the Messinian Salinity Cris is.