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 described from material collected on Lanzarote, Canary Is. Expansophria sarda is described from a single male collected on Sardinia. Both genera have 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 Crisis.