title: The discovery of male Caligus brevicaudatus Scott, 1901 (Copepoda: Caligidae) parasitic on tub gurnard, Chelidonichthys lucerna (Linnaeus) from the eastern Mediterranean.
abstract: Caligus brevicaudatus Scott, 1901, a common but poorly known species of parasitic copepod, is redescribed from newly collected specimens of both sexes. The new material was collected from the body surface of tub gurnards, Chelidonichthys lucerna (Linnaeus), caught in eastern Mediterranean waters off the Turkish coast. Inadequately described female structures from earlier descriptions are redescribed and illustrated in detail and the male of C. brevicaudatus is described for the first time. The new material of C. brevicaudatus is compared with material collected by A. Scott and stored in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London. In addition, a voucher specimen of Caligus uranoscopi Vaissière, 1955, stored in the collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris is re-examined. Caligus uranoscopi is recognised as a junior subjective synonym of C. brevicaudatus since it does not differ in any substantive characters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Diseases & Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey;
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Demirkale
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Diseases & Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey.|Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, UK.
authors.forename: Argun Akif
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ozak
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, UK.
authors.forename: Geoffrey Allan
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Boxshall
keywords: Crustacea; Mediterranean Sea; ectoparasite; marine fish; redescription