A new species of Anuretes Heller, 1865 (Copepoda: Caligidae) from the yellowbanded sweetlips Plectorhinchus lineatus (Haemulidae) off New Caledonia.
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).
Venmathi Maran
B A
BA
Takehara Marine Science Station, Setouchi Field Science Center, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Takehara 725-0024, Japan.
Ohtsuka
Susumu
S
Boxshall
Geoffrey A
GA
D000818:Animals; D033342:Copepoda / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D005880:Gills / Q000469:parasitology; D008857:Microscopy, Interference; D010473:Perciformes / Q000469:parasitology*