Two new species of the genus Anilocra Leach, 1818 (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitic on reef fishes from the western Pacific

Anilocra harazakii sp. nov. and Anilocra boucheti sp. nov. are described from specimens collected from Pterocaesio marri (Caesionidae) in the northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan and Myripristis kuntee (Holocentridae) off Madang, Papua New Guinea, respectively. Anilocra harazakii sp. nov. is characterized by the combination of the following characters in the female: the elongate narrow body dorsally vaulted; the pleonite 1 concealed by the pereonite 7; the uropod extending that of the angled pleotelson, and its endopod longer than the exopod; and the dactyli of only pereopods 2 and 3 with one nodule on anterior margins. Anilocra boucheti sp. nov. is characterized by the following: body with convex lateral margins; almost part of the pleonite 1 not concealed by the pereonite 7; pleonite 5 with posterolateral acute angle strongly produced; coxa 3 clearly smaller than coxae 1 and 2; the uropod not extending past the posterior margin of the pleotelson with the tip of one of the rami not exceeding the other; and the dactyli of pereopods 1–4 without nodules. Furthermore, the coloration, i.e., the orange body with black margins, of A. boucheti sp. nov. is unique. Bayesian inference tree using partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) genes supported the monophyletic clade composed of the members of the genus Anilocra including the two new species. Since the wounds caused by A. harazakii sp. nov. are often hemorrhagic, the isopod might have severe negative effects on the host.LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1C426C15-6FB7-49E4-AD49-02BE532D9ABB     

A new species of the genus Cirrhimuraena (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae) from the Bay of Bengal,India

A new species of the genus Cirrhimuraena (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae), Cirrhimuraena indica sp. nov., is described based on eight specimens collected from the Paradip (Odisha) and Petuaghat harbours (West Bengal) along the Bay of Bengal. The species is distinct in having the upper jaw fringed with 16–17 cirri before posterior nostril and 4–5 in between the anterior and posterior nostrils on the side; dorsal fin originates above the level of gill opening, predorsal length is 9.3–10.9 in total length; the head is relatively large, the length is 9.3–9.8 in total length; no infraorbital pores are observed between the nostrils; teeth are numerous, small, conical and in bands on each jaw; pores are present before the gill opening 10–11 and before anus 47–48; pectoral-fin length is 2.4–2.8 in head length; predorsal vertebrae are 8–10, pre-anal vertebrae 43–47 and total vertebrae 164–169. In the maximum likelihood tree analysis for COI gene, the new species belongs to the same clade as the other congener of Cirrhimuraena chinensis and is separated from the species morphologically and genetically.     

A new branchipodid genus and species (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: Anostraca) from South Africa

Rhinobranchipus martensi gen. et sp. nov. (Anostraca: Branchipodidae) was collected from a shallow temporary pool in the surroundings of Grahamstown (Cape Province, South Africa) (33^o18'S, 26^o32'E). Rhinobranchipus shares partial fusion of the chitinized basal parts of the male antennae, the so-called clypeus, with other Branchipodidae. The new genus is distinguished from confamilial genera by the morphology of the basal part of the penes. The new species, known from its type locality only, should be considered endangered, if it has not already become extinct as a result of recent modifications of its habitat.     

New records of fish parasitic isopods of the gill-attaching genus Mothocya Costa,in Hope, 1851 from the Virgin Islands,Caribbean, with description of a new species

Two species of Mothocya Costa, in Hope, 1851 are reported from the Virgin Islands. Mothocya xenobranchia Bruce, 1986 was collected from St. John Island from the gills of the Atlantic needlefish, Strongylura marina, which is a new locality record and also confirms a previously uncertain host identity. Mothocya bertlucy sp. n. is described from St. Thomas, St John and Guana Islands, from the gills of the redlip blenny, Ophioblennius macclurei, the first record of a blenny as host for any Mothocya. The distinguishing characters of Mothocya bertlucy sp. n. include its small size (< 9 mm) and eyes, the slender pleotelson with a narrowly rounded caudomedial point, extended uropod peduncle and uropods which do not extend past the pleotelson posterior margin, and the narrow pleon which is only slightly overlapped by pereonite 7.     

Why selection favors protandrous sex change for the parasitic isopod, Ichthyoxenus fushanensis (Isopoda: Cymothoidae)

A flesh burrowing parasitic isopod, Ichthyoxenus fushanensis, was found infecting the body cavity of a freshwater fish, Varicorhinus bacbatulus, in pairs. The marked sexual size dimorphism, with much larger females than males, and the presence of penes vestige on mature females suggest a protandrous sex change in I. fushanensis. Here we investigate the question of why selection favors protandrous sex change for I. fushanensis, by analyzing the interactions among clutch size, female size, male size, and their host size. The number of manca, the first free-living juvenile stage released, per brood was closely related to the size of the female. Excluding the effects of interaction among causal variables, the negative correlation of male size alone on clutch size suggests that a small male did not limit an individual's mating and fertilization success. When the effect of host size is removed statistically, there exists a significant negative relationship between the sizes of paired males and females. This indicates that the resources available from host fish are limited, and that competition exists between paired male and female resulting in a trade-off of body size. Due to the very low success rate of hunting for a host of mancas, a female with larger body size and higher fecundity has a fitness advantage. To augment the clutch size, a productive combination is a smaller male and a larger female in a host. The constraints of the limited resources and the trade-off between the sizes of paired male and female may favor I. fushanensis to adopt the reproductive strategy of protandrous sex change resulting in a larger female and hence more mancas. The pattern of the interactions among male, female, and the number of mancas, may be considered as a selective force for I. fushanensis protandrous sex change, where the available resources are constrained by the size of the host. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Olencira praegustator (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cymothoidae) parasitic on Brevoortia species (Pisces, Clupeidae) from the southeastern coasts of North America: review and re-description

The cymothoid isopod Olencira praegustator (Latrobe, 1802), the sole species of the genus Olencira Leach, 1818, has been the subject of several previous studies, but has remained incompletely described. This species is re-described and figured from the Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe, 1802), the type host from the estuarine systems of the South Carolina coast, USA. The general morphology, mouthparts and appendages of the female, male and other stages of its lifecycle are described.

The geographical distribution and hosts recorded for O. praegustator are reviewed. Biological data are summarized and discussed. Areas that need additional studies include the infection process and the effect of the parasite on its host.     

Description of a new species of deep-water crab of the genus Homolodromia A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 from the northern Indian Ocean (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Homolodromiidae)

ABSTRACT

Homolodromia rajeevani, a new species of deep-water homolodromiid sponge crab, is described from the northern Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea, depth 957 m, and Bay of Bengal, 645 m), and is the first record of the genus from the area. This species resembles the western Indian Ocean species, namely, Homolodromia bouvieri Doflein, 1904, in having 2 terminal spines on the propodi of the last two pereopods, but can be easily distinguished from the latter species by the inflated carapace, simple long setae on carapace and appendages, slender pseudo-rostral spines separated by a U-shaped base, and a slender arched dactylus of cheliped with maximum elevation at proximal part which bears broadly circular depressions with sparse setae. The most diagnostic character is the higher number of spines on the occlusal surfaces of propodal thumbs and dactyli of the pseudochela of the last two pereopods as compared to H. bouvieri. A key for the identification of the species under the genus Homolodromia is also provided.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:48894F49-5124-4723-9FF2-3D30FB536DA5     

A new species of Paratanais Dana, 1852 (Crustacea,Peracarida, Tanaidacea,Paratanaidae) from Puerto Rico,northwestern Atlantic

Paratanais rosadi sp. n. described from Puerto Rican coastal waters represents the first species of the genus from the northwestern Atlantic. It is distinguished from the other Paratanais species by a combination of characters, including article-2 of the maxilliped palp with a geniculate, finely-serrulate seta on inner margin; chela with stiff, geniculate, seta arising from propodus between fixed finger and dactylus and with short, stout, finely serrulate, seta on inner distal face of propodus adjacent to base of dactylus; carpus of pereopods 4−6 having three, instead of four stout modified spiniform setae distally, uropodal exopod distinctly shorter than endopodal article-1; and uropodal endopod with articles of about of equal in length. A key for the separation of Paratanais species from the Atlantic Ocean is presented.     

Four new species of Desmosomatidae Sars, 1897 (Crustacea: Isopoda) from the deep sea of the Angola Basin

From a total of 104 species and 1741 individuals of Isopoda, the material from DIVA-1 (DIVersity of the Atlantic benthos) contained 364 specimens belonging to Desmosomatidae Sars, 1897. They are represented by 10 genera and 27 species. Most species (93%) are new to science. Four species are described in this study (Eugerdella theodori sp. nov., Desmosoma renatae sp. nov., Torwolia tinbiene sp. nov. and Momedossa longipedis sp. nov.). A discussion of the genera Desmosoma Sars, 1864, Momedossa Hessler, 1970 and Torwolia Hessler, 1970 is presented.     

New and rare snailfish genus Paraliparis from the Weddell Sea with the description of two new species

Specimens of Paraliparis balgueriasi n. sp., P. hureaui n. sp., P. charcoti , P. incognita , P. meganchus , P. mawsoni and P. antarcticus were obtained from the Weddell Sea. Paraliparis balgueriasi n. sp. and P. hureaui n. sp. are described in detail. The endochrondral pectoral girdle of P. charcoti , described here for the first time, is the only one among the Liparidae to show five radials (1+1+1+1+1), two of which (R3 and R4) are horseshoe shaped. Paraliparis incognita and P. meganchus are new records from the Weddell Sea.     

Five new species of the genus Liparia (Fabaceae) from South Africa

Schutte, A.L. 1995. Five new species of the genus Liparia (Fabaceae) from South Africa. - Nord. J. Bot. 15: 149–156. Copenhagen. ISSN 0107–055X.
Five distinct new species of the genus Liparia are described, namely L. bonaespei, L. confusa, L. congesta, L. rafnioides and L. triata . These species are, like many of the species included in the recently enlarged generic concept of Liparia , also localized, and are all endemic to the Cape Province of South Africa.     

A new species of Gastrosaccus (Crustacea,Mysidacea) from Algoa Bay (South Africa)

The effect of temperature on growth rate, shell size and shell shape in Krithe praetexta praetexta (Sars) was studied in four thermocultures. From July 1995 to June 1996, the cultures were kept in a continuously flowing open system pumping water from the intermediate watermass of the Gullmarn fjord, west coast of Sweden. Three cultures were kept at constant temperatures of 5, 10 and 14 °C, respectively. The fourth (reference) culture largely followed the natural variation in temperature. At the termination of the experiment, all living ostracods from a 125 m sieve were sampled from the cultures. Population age structures were analysed for the various thermocultures of K. praetexta praetexta. These were more shifted towards later ontogenetic stages with higher temperature, i.e. the ontogenetic development was more rapid in the warmer cultures. An alternative explanation is due to diapause causing cohorts to accumulate in some ontogenetic stages only when the temperature is constant. The differences in shell size of K. praetexta praetexta among the thermoconstant cultures were not statistically significant.     

Ecology and systematics of mangrove crabs of the genus Perisesarma (Crustacea: Brachyura: Sesarmidae) from East Africa

East Africa has a reduced mangrove crab species richness when compared to Asian mangroves. To date, only one species of Perisesarma de Man, 1895 has been reported in East Africa, despite more than 30 years of mangrove research in this region. Based on morphology, colour, mtDNA and behaviour, we describe a new species of Perisesarma from Kenya, P. samawati sp. nov. Surprisingly, when comparing molecular data from other species within this genus, P. samawati sp. nov. and the sympatric P. guttatum (A. Milne Edwards, 1869) are not sister species. Some aspects of the ecology of P. guttatum and P. samawati sp. nov. are compared and the differences discussed. Additionally, we compare P. samawati sp. nov. with the ecological literature of a possible sister species P. eumolpe de Man, 1895 from Malaysian mangroves. Our findings suggest that the new species is an ecologically important species in East African mangroves.  © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2004, 141 , 435–445.     

A review of the alderfly genus Leptosialis Esben-Petersen (Megaloptera, Sialidae) with description of a new species from South Africa

The monotypic South African alderfly genus Leptosialis Esben-Petersen, 1920 is reviewed and Leptosialis africana Esben-Petersen, 1920 is redescribed. In the process a new species of alderfly Leptosialis necopinatasp. n. from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa is recognised and described. Within Sialidae the new species most closely resembles Leptosialis africana. A key to the two species of Leptosialis using both adult and larval characters is provided.     

A new species of Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) from Soqotra (Yemen)

Abstract

Limonium guigliae, from the island of Soqotra (Yemen) is described. This new species, close to L. paulayanum differs from it by its size, flower morphology and ecology.     

Review of the genus Merulempista Roesler, 1967 (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) from China, with description of two new species

The genus Merulempista Roesler, 1967 is reviewed for China. Of the four species treated in this paper, Merulempista rubriptera Li & Ren, sp. n. and Merulempista digitata Li & Ren, sp. n. are described as new; Merulempista cyclogramma (Hampson, 1896) is newly recorded for China, and its taxonomic position is briefly discussed. Photographs of the adults and genitalia are provided, along with a key to the known Chinese species.