A new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Prohatschekia</Emphasis> Nunes-Ruivo, 1954 (Copepoda: Hatschekiidae) parasitic on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scorpaena elongata</Emphasis> (Cadenat) off Algeria

A new species of parasitic copepod, Prohatschekia mediterranea n. sp. (Siphonostomatoida: Hatschekiidae), is described from a scorpaenid fish, Scorpaena elongata, collected off Algeria. This is the seventh species of Prohatschekia Nunes-Ruivo, 1954 to be described and the first record of the genus from the Mediterranean Sea. The new species is most closely related to P. cremouxi Nunes-Ruivo, 1954, known from a congeneric host collected in Senegal. A key is provided to distinguish the new species from other members of the genus.     

A new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hamaticolax</Emphasis> Ho &amp; Lin, 2006 (Copepoda: Bomolochidae) from deep water macrourids in the Mediterranean

Hamaticolax resupinus n. sp. is described from specimens collected from the gill cavities of Coelorinchus mediterraneus Iwamoto & Ungaro and Coryphaenoides mediterraneus (Giglioli) (Gadiformes: Macrouridae) caught in the Western Mediterranean Sea at depths between 1,236 and 1,626 m. Hamaticolax resupinus n. sp. closely resembles H. maleus Oldewage, 1994, but differs from the latter by its smaller body size and in having a genital double-somite in the female that is markedly wider than the free abdominal somites and has strongly convex lateral margins. The new species is only the second bomolochid found on a macrourid host and is the first from depths in excess of 1,200 m. Hamaticolax resupinus n. sp. also represents the first parasitic copepod recorded from Coe. mediterraneus and only the third one from Cor. mediterraneus worldwide.     

A new species of Lernaea L. (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) from Brazil,with notes on its ontogeny

A new species of Lernaea, closely related to L. cyprinacea, is described from both native and introduced fish species at a fish farming facility in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. All life-cycle stages of the new species, L. devastatrix, can be distinguished from L. cyprinacea by the reflexed claw on its antenna. A partial scheme of homologies of the antennulary segments is proposed, and the development of the segmentation and setation patterns is traced from CoIII to adults of both sexes. New interpretations are proposed of the homology of the antennary claw and of the maxillipedal endopod in lernaeids.     

Identification guide to some Diaptomid species (Crustacea,Copepoda, Calanoida,Diaptomidae) of “de la Plata” River Basin (South America)

An identification guide is presented for species of calanoid copepod family Diaptomidae from “de la Plata” River Basin (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay). It was based on material collected during the summer and winter of 2010 from 43 sites across the eastern part and the lower stretches of this basin, the second largest in South America and the fourth in the world. The guide contains identification keys and species diagnoses for males and females, richly supported by scanning electronic micrographs and/or line drawings of 19 species. It also includes some general remarks on the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of these species. The key was adjusted to be useful for these species only, with separate keys for each sex, and is the first for females of South America. One species classified herein as incertae sedis was not included in the analysis. At least ten other species have previously been recorded in the basin but were not present in our samples. This is the first attempt to compile comprehensive taxonomic information on this group of copepods in this region, and it is expected to become a useful tool for biologists and young taxonomists interested in the crustacean biota of the Neotropical region.     

Gauchergasilus,a new genus for Ergasilus euripedesi Montú, 1980, an abundant parasitic copepod from the Patos Lagoon in southern Brazil

Ergasilus euripedesi is redescribed from newly collected material of both sexes. A new genus, Gauchergasilus, is proposed, with Gauchergasilus euripedesi n. comb., formerly Ergasilus euripedsi Montú, 1980, as its type and only species. The new genus is characterised principally by the five-segmented antennule, the presence of a conspicuous barb on the concave margin of the claw of the antenna, the two-segmented endopod of leg 1 and the reduced fifth leg comprising two setae, one papillate. The male lacks the barb on the antennal claw but its other appendages are similar to those of the female, except for the maxilliped which is absent in females. The affinities of the new genus lie with the Acusicola group of genera.     

The Buproridae Thorell, 1859, a family of ascidicolous copepods (Copepoda: Cyclopoida)

The adult female of Buprorus loveni Thorell, 1859, a cyclopoid copepod inhabiting the branchial cavities of solitary ascidians, is redescribed in detail from new material collected in Scandinavian waters and from the southern part of the North Atlantic off Mauritania. The antennal segmentation pattern exhibited by all seven subfamilies of the family Ascidicolidae Thorell, 1860 is compared. The segmentation of the Buprorinae is different from that of all other subfamilies within the ascidicolid series. It is concluded that the antenna of Buprorus is not an appropriate model for interpreting the segmentation of other ascidicolids because the Buprorinae is the only subfamily in which the first and second endopodal segments are primitively fused and the third is distinct. The Buproridae Thorell, 1859 is here treated as a separate family within the Cyclopoida.     

Sarcotretes (Copepoda: Pennellidae) parasitizing myctophid fishes in the Southern Ocean: new information from seabird diet

Copepods are common parasites of marine fishes, but little information is available on the biology of species that parasitize mesopelagic fishes in oceanic waters. In this study, we report the finding of large numbers of Sarcotretes spp. (n = 2340) in dietary samples of king penguins collected at Crozet and the Falklands Islands. Analysis of penguin food indicates that S. scopeli Jungersen parasitizes myctophid fishes, Protomyctophum tenisoni (Norman), in the southern Indian Ocean and P. choriodon Hulley in the southern Atlantic. It suggests that the much rarer S. eristaliformis (Brian) also parasitizes myctophids, but the host species of that copepod remains to be determined. The new data add significant information concerning the hosts and distribution of Sarcotretes spp. in the Southern Ocean and emphasize the usefulness of ichthyophagous predators in revealing valuable information on the biology of organisms that parasitize their prey.     

The notodelphyid Genus Doroixys Kerschner, 1879 (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopoida), with the Description of a New Species from the Russian Far East

Doroixys simplex n. sp. is described from material collected from a tunicate of the genus Ciona, collected on the North Pacific coast of Russia. This is the fourth species of the genus and the first for which the male has been found. The new species differs from congeners most noticeably in the absence of posterolateral processes from the rear margin of the dorsal cephalic shield. A key to species is provided.