Studies on subterranean copepods from Italy, with descriptions of two new epikarstic species from a cave in Sicily

This paper presents and discusses the copepod fauna collected from several rimstone pools in Conza Cave (Palermo, Sicily). The geology, lithology and hydrology of the cave suggest that all the copepods collected in the pools were dislodged from the epikarst and dripped with water into the pools. Copepod fauna included the first record for Sicily of the Italian endemic stygobiotic cyclopoid Speocyclops italicus, the first cave Parastenocarididae of Sicily Parastenocaris diversitatis sp. nov., and the stygobiotic Canthocamptidae Bryocamptus (Rheocamptus) stillae sp. nov. Remarks on the ecology and biology of the collected taxa are presented and discussed.