Five new coexisting species of copepod crustaceans of the genus (Poecilostomatoida: Rhynchomolgidae), symbionts of the stony coral (Scleractinia).

is a symbiotic genus of copepods of the poecilostomatoid family Rhynchomolgidae and is known to be associated with shallow-water reef-building hermatypic corals. Three species of this genus were previously found only in washings of and in northern Madagascar. Four coral morphotypes of (Pocilloporidae) were collected by SCUBA at 1 to 28 m depth in five sites in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea in 2013. Copepods found on these colonies were studied using light, confocal and scanning electron microscopy. Five new, and one known, species of the genus were discovered in washings and inside the galls of the hermatypic coral . The description of these new species ( , , , , and ) and a key for the identification of all of its congeners is provided herein.