A new species of Anuretes Heller, 1865 (Copepoda: Caligidae) from the yellowbanded sweetlips Plectorhinchus lineatus (Haemulidae) off New Caledonia |
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Authors: | B A Venmathi Maran Susumu Ohtsuka Geoffrey A Boxshall |
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Institution: | (1) Takehara Marine Science Station, Setouchi Field Science Center, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Takehara 725-0024, Japan;(2) Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK |
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Abstract: | A new species of caligid copepod, Anuretes justinei n. sp., is described from off New Caledonia. It is parasitic on the gill filaments of a haemulid fish, the yellowbanded sweetlips
Plectorhinchus lineatus (Linnaeus). The new species is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following character states: (1)
the fourth pedigerous somite is covered dorsally by the expanded free posterior margin of the cephalothorax; (2) a maxillary
whip is present; (3) the relatively small genital complex is less than half the length of the cephalothorax; (4) leg 3 is
armed with nine setae on the terminal exopodal segment and six setae on the terminal endopodal segment; and (5) leg 4 is long
and slender with a setal armature of I, III twisted spines. The new species is an addition to the possibly monophyletic group
of seven species that is characterised by the possession of a maxillary whip, all of which are found on haemulid hosts. The
host-specificity of Anuretes is relatively high, its species being largely parasitic on reef-associated fishes, such as the families Haemulidae (eight
species), Ephippidae (four species), Acanthuridae (four species) and Pomacanthidae (one species). |
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