The productus-group within the sea lice genus Caligus Müller, 1785 is characterised by the loss of two and the reduction or loss of the third of the three plumose setae normally carried on the posterior margin of the distal exopodal segment of the first swimming leg. We describe a new species, Caligus lethrinicola n.sp., from a lethrinid host collected in New Caledonia. We review the group and recognize 15 species as valid, including the new species. The type material of the three varieties of Caligus mauritanicus Brian, 1924 is re-examined and the var. temnodontis is here recognized as a distinct species, Caligus temnodontis Brian, 1924. The typical and miniscula varieties are recognised as synonyms of Caligus dakari van Beneden, 1892 and C. haemulonis Krøyer, 1863 respectively. Additional synonymies are proposed within the group. Supplementary observations are presented on the morphology of C. dakari, C. haemulonis and C. temnodontis. A brief differential diagnosis is presented for each of the 14 previously described valid species and a key to species has been constructed.
One species of each of the three mesoparasitic ergasilid genera, Therodamas Krøyer, Mugilicola Tripathi and Paeonodes Wilson, is described in detail. The descriptions of P. subviridis n. sp. and Mugilicola bulbosus Tripathi are based on new material collected from Liza subviridis (Valenciennes) from Guam and India, respectively. The description of Therodamas frontalis n. sp. is based on material from Mugil cephalus L. in Brazil and the redescription of Therodamas serrani Krøyer is based on examination of syntype material. The geographical distributions of all three genera are summarised. Analysis of the phylogenetic relationships between species of these three genera indicates that Paeonodes and Mugilicola form a single clade and that Paeonodes, as currently constituted, is paraphyletic.
Three species of parasitic copepods, one each from the siphonostomatoid families Lernanthropidae and Lernaeopodidae and one from the cyclopoid family Bomolochidae, are redescribed based on material collected from the gills of four fish species belonging to the family Clupeidae caught from coastal waters off Alexandria, Egypt. The recorded parasites are: Mitrapus oblongus (Pillai, 1964), found on Etrumeus teres (Dekay), an immigrant species from the Red Sea, and on Sardinella aurita Valenciennes, a native Mediterranean species; Clavellisa ilishae Pillai, 1962 found only on S. aurita; and Nothobomolochus fradei Marques, 1965 found on Herklotsichthys punctatus (Rüppell), an immigrant species from the Red Sea, and on Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum), a native Mediterranean species. The first two of these copepods have been reported before on clupeid hosts from the Indian Ocean. The third was known from the eastern South Atlantic and the Arabian Gulf. None of the copepods has previously been recorded in the Mediterranean. All of the parasites reported here constitute new records for these hosts. Two of the hosts are Erythrean (=Lessepsian) immigrants and were caught in Mediterranean waters off the Egyptian coast. The original description of N. fradei (Marques, 1965) is inadequate by modern standards. This species is fully described here for the first time. The male of M. oblongus was briefly described by Pillai (1964), but its mouthparts are described in detail here for the first time.
All representatives of the subfamily Agonostominae of grey mullets in the collections of The Natural History Museum in London were examined for parasitic copepods. Agonostomus monticola, Joturus pichardi, Aldrichetta forsteri and Cestraeus goldiei were all infected by copepods. Three new species of Acusicola and two new species of Ergasilus were found: E. parabahiensis n. sp. on A. monticola from Guyana and E. acusicestraeus n. sp. on C. goldiei from Papua New Guinea. Acusicola spinuloderma n. sp. was found on A. monticola and J. pichardi collected from different localities in Central America, A. mazatlanesis n. sp. on the same host from west Mexico (Mazatlan) and A. joturicola n. sp. on J. pichardi from Panama. Descriptions of the five new species and a redescription of E. australiensis Roubal, from Aldrichetta forsteri, are presented. The host-parasite relationships and geographical distributions of hosts and their parasitic copepods are analysed.
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