Two New Diosaccids (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from the Northern Gulf of Mexico and Their Responses to Winter Storms

The traditional method for producing taxonomic illustrations requires the preparation of inked copies of pencil originals. These individual figures are then grouped into plates for publication. I describe an alternative, computer-based approach. In a preliminary step, a pencil drawing is digitized and imported into an illustration program. The program's tools are then used to trace the image. Each figure is stored as a separate computer file. To make a plate for publication or a slide for presentation, several figures can be combined. The approach has several advantages. (1) It is easier to master than the pen-and-ink method. (2) Figures can be manipulated electronically, so the size and orientation of a figure is infinitely adjustable, providing great flexibility in the preparation of plates. (3) Multiple "originals" can be printed. (4) Mistakes can be corrected easily. I describe two new species of Diosaccidae (Harpacticoida, Copepoda) from an unvegetated sand at 18 m depth in the northern Gulf of Mexico. One is assigned to the genus Protopsammotopa; the other is assigned to Actopsyllus, and traits in common with Eoschizopera Wells & Rao (1976) are noted. I used the computer-based techniques to produce the figures for these descriptions. The effects of winter storms on the two new diosaccids described here were studied through a reanalysis of data from Thistle et al. (1995a). I found that Actopsyllus sp. nov. did not migrate downward in response to erosive flow. Protopsammotopa sp. nov. males, but not females, did. Protopsammotopa sp. nov. is found at shallower depths in the sediment than Actopsyllus sp. nov., which may explain the difference in response to erosion by two morphologically similar and phylogenetically related species.