A new species of Boca Lowry & Stoddart, 1997 (Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Aristiidae) from a mesophotic coral ecosystem off Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea.

A new species of the genus Boca Lowry & Stoddart, 1997 is described from a mesophotic coral ecosystem off southwestern Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean Sea. The new species is easily recognized from the others in the genus mainly by the following characters: (1) maxilliped, inner plate with 2 long apical simple setae; palp, articles slender, subequal in length; (2) gnathopod 1, propodus slightly elongate, about 2.5 × longer than wide, and palm extremely acute, quite long and distinctly demarked by a robust seta at the palmar corner; (3) gnathopod 2, carpus slightly elongate, about 3.7 × longer than wide; (4) pereopod 5, basis widely expanded posteriorly, posterior margin rounded and smooth, and posteroventral lobe weakly developed. We also present a key to world species of Boca. This is the fifth species of Boca from world's oceans and the first record of the genus from Puerto Rico.