My name is Levin Wieschermann and I started working with copepods just recently for my bachelor thesis at the University of Oldenburg, Germany.  For my thesis, I collaborated with Dr Terue Kihara to describe a new species of Aphotopontius (Siphonostomatoida, Dirivultidae) from an active hydrothermal vent at the Southeast Indian Ridge. In addition to the traditional taxonomic description, we provided confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) images, that later build the foundation of the poster I presented at the ICOC, and mitochondrial COI barcodes. The latter were used for molecular species delimitation and to illustrate connectivity of multiple species of the studied genus from the Indian Ocean and the Pacific with the help of a haplotype network. There are also images of precopulatory mate guarding that help in understanding the biology of Aphotopontius and the expression of certain characters.

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the ICOC and it was a great honour to receive a student award. Meeting so many experienced copepodologists was inspiring and reinforced my ambition to continue working with copepods. Especially working on deep-sea hydrothermal vent samples means a lot of responsibility to me. There is still much to be learnt about these unique environments and related research might impact future decisions regarding deep-sea mining.
I look forward to continuing to contribute with my work and to collaborate with copepodologists.