Associations of Hydrocorallia Stylasterina with gall-inhabiting Copepoda Siphonostomatoidea from the south-west Pacific. Part II. On six species belonging to four new genera of the copepod family Asterocheridae

No specialized Copepoda associated with stylasterine corals were recorded thus far. Six different species in four genera (all new) are described. They have been found in cage-like galls on Conopora laevis (three species, in three different genera, from the Kermadec Islands and from New Zealand), Stylaster sanguineus (one species, from the New Hebrides), Stylaster papuensis (one species, from Papua), and Crypthelia cryptotrema (one species, from New Caledonia). The six copepod species appear to be phylogenetically related and belong to the family Asterocheridae (suborder Siphonostomatoidea). Based on the morphology of these new taxa, the value of the subfamily Cletopontoniinae of the Asterocheridae is called in question.