Two new species of Kelleria (Copepoda, Poecilostomatoida, Kelleriidae) from Shikoku, Japan

Two new poecilostomatoid copepod species, Kelleria japonica n. sp. and K. pararegalis n. sp., belonging to the family Kelleriidae are described from an eelgrass bed on the southwest coast of Shikoku Island, western Japan. The family is new to the fauna of Japan. Kelleria japonica is similar to four congeners by having a bilobed medial process on the female leg 5, but distinguished from them by a combination of features in some of the following appendages, the caudal ramus and the terminal spines of the maxilla in both female and male, the female leg 5, and the male legs 1 and 2. Kelleria pararegalis is most similar to K. regalis, described from the Suez Canal, but differs from the latter in the body length in both female and male, the medial process on the first segment of the maxilliped and the inner apical spine of leg 5 in the female, and the outer apical spine of the leg 2 endopod in the male.