A new species of Elpidium (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from bromeliads in Cusuco National Park, Honduras

Passively dispersing aquatic invertebrates such as Ostracoda in restricted aquatic habitats such as bromeliads remain an intriguing observation considering the highly specialised dispersal vectors needed for efficient colonisation. Here we describe a new species of Elpidium, E. merendonense sp. n., collected from bromeliads in the cloud forest from Cusuco National Park, Honduras. Elpidium merendonense sp. n. is a small to medium-sized species that can be easily distinguished from its congeners by its unique outgrowth at the posterior end of the left valve, visible especially in females. The species was common all through the park occurring at a wide range of altitudes and in different species of bromeliads. This finding is the first freshwater ostracod species described from Honduras and is in agreement with the prediction that the genus Elpidium contains a large number of species with small geographic distributions. We update the list of described species of Elpidium and present a key to species.