''Stygotantulus'' is a genus of

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

with the sole species ''Stygotantulus stocki''. It lives as an ectoparasite on

harpacticoid Harpacticoida is an order of copepods, in the subphylum Crustacea. This order comprises 463 genera and about 3,000 species; its members are benthic copepods found throughout the world in the marine environment (most families) and in fresh ...

copepods of the families Tisbidae and Canuellidae. It is the smallest

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

in the world, at a length of less than . The specific name ''stocki'' commemorates Jan Hendrik Stock, a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

carcinologist. Another contender for the world's smallest arthropod is '' Tantulacus dieteri'', with a total body length of only .

References

Maxillopoda Parasitic crustaceans Ectoparasites Monotypic crustacean genera {{maxillopoda-stub