Two new parastenocaridid genera (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from South America, including a revision of Noodt's columbiensis-group and the redescription of Parastenocaris tapajosensis Noodt, 1963

The genus Colombocaris is proposed for a new species discovered on submerged mosses of a high Andean lake in Colombia. The diagnostic characters of the genus mainly concern the morphology of legs, particularly the endopod of leg 2, leg 3, the endopodite of leg 4 and the peculiar leg 5, the cuticular windows of body segments and the morphology of the furca. The new genus Noodtcaris is proposed for three species of the Parastenocaris columbiensis-group, viz., P. columbiensis, P. kubitzkii and P. roettgeri, described from the Colombian Llanos Orientales, and for P. tapajosensis from the Brazilian Amazonas. This genus is well defined by the ornamentation of the caudal rami and the morphology of legs 2 to 5. The absence of endopod on female leg 3 is a diagnostic character at least for the Colombian species. A key for the identification of the species composing the new genera is provided.