Temora is a genus of copepods in the family Temoridae. The World Register of Marine Species lists the following species:[1]
Additionally, Temora curta (Dana, 1849) is considered a taxon inquirendum.
Temora was originally described by Scottish physician and zoologist William Baird in his 1850 work The Natural History of the British Entomostraca. The genus was named for the palace of ancient Irish kings in James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of poems, published in the prior century. Baird's description was based on specimens preserved in spirits, as he never collected a living specimen. The type locality was the coast of Ireland.[2]
In 1881, Prussian zoologist Wilhelm Giesbrecht proposed dividing the genus into Halitemora (Latin for salt, + temora) and Eurytemora ( Latin for wide or broad, + temora), listing differences in morphology as well as habitat.[3] Halitemora is not currently accepted as valid, but a number of species previously included in Temora have been moved to Eurytemora:[1]
Baird's original description of the genus is as follows:
Specimens collected range from 0.6 to 2.1 mm. With the possible exception of T. kerguelensis, which is known from few specimens and has no published figures, the fifth leg pair is asymmetrical in all Temora species.[4]
All species of Temora are epipelagic, being found in shallow coastal waters. Most have cosmopolitan distribution, except for T. kerguelensis, which has been found exclusively in subantarctic waters.