DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST BOECKELLA (COPEPODA, CALANOIDA, CENTROPAGIDAE) FROM NEW-CALEDONIA

A new species of the genus Boeckella De Guerne & Richard, 1889 is desc ribed and illustrated from New Caledonia. It is the first representati ve of this genus of the family Centropagidae (Copepoda, Calanoida) to be recorded from New Caledonia. Boeckella spinogibba n. sp. is mainly distinguished from its apparently closest relative, Boeckella montana Bayly, 1964, by the morphology of P5, in the male as well as in the fe male. Its find in the Plaine des Lacs (22 degrees 18'S) in southern Ne w Caledonia constitutes the northern limit of the distribution of the genus in the Australasian region.