Discovery of Parastenocarididae (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) in India, with the description of three new species of Parastenocaris Kessler, 1913, from the River Krishna at Vijayawada

In a two-year study of the family Parastenocarididae in the River Krishna a t Vijayawada, South India, five species belonging to the genus Parastenocar is Kessler, 1913, have been met with. Of these, three are new to science. R gayatri n. sp., P savita n. sp., and R sandhya n. sp. The first two of the se belong to the brevipes-group, the last one to the sioli-group. This pape r gives an illustrated description of these new taxa, and also briefly disc usses their affinities and ecology. The other two species, viz., R curvispi nus Enckell, 1970, and Parastenocaris sp., will be dealt with elsewhere. Th is is the first report on Parastenocarididae from India. Incidentally, it has also been found that parastenocaridids constitute a ra ther favoured item in the diet of the postlarvae of a commercially importan t gobioid fish, Glossogobius giuris (Hamilton, 1822). A brief note of this finding has been made.