A New Species of Rhinergasilus Boeger et Thatcher, 1988 (Copepoda: Ergasilidae) from Gills of Astyanax fasciatus (Cuvier, 1819) (Actinopterygii: Characidae)

Species of Ergasilus von Nordmann, 1832 (Copepoda: Ergasilidae) from cichlid fishes in Lake Tanganyika

“…Ergasilus (von Nordmann, 1832) represents the type and most speciose genus of the family Ergasilidae (Burmeister, 1835), with approximately 160 nominal species worldwide, inhabiting fresh, marine and brackish waters (Boxshall and Defaye, 2007; WoRMS Editorial Board, 2022). In recent years, the majority of systematic studies dealing with ergasilid species originated from the Neotropical region (Marques et al ., 2015; Muriel-Hoyos et al ., 2015; Taborda et al ., 2016; Varella et al ., 2019; Narciso et al ., 2020; Santacruz et al ., 2020; Waicheim et al ., 2021), which is in contrast to Africa, where no new records have been available in the past few decades. The first studies of African Ergasilidae were conducted between 1900 and 1928 in the African Great Lakes (Sars, 1909; van Douwe, 1912; Cunnington, 1920; Gurney, 1928), while the first description of Ergasilus species from Africa was made by Sars (1909), who described 3 species (originally assigned to the currently invalid genus Ergasiloides ) from Lake Tanganyika.…”

Two new species of Acusicola Cressey, 1970 (Copepoda:Cyclopoida: Ergasilidae) parasitic on the gills of two estuarine actinopterygians off Brazil

“…Most of these copepods are found infesting the gills of freshwater actinopterygians, but some species may be attached to nostrils, tegument and urinary bladder and, less frequently, parasitizes brackish and marine fish, as well as mollusks (Boxshall & Halsey, 2004 ; Rosim et al, 2013 ; Taborda et al, 2016 ). Ergasilidae is the richest family of parasitic copepods found on fish from Brazil, on which 74 species from 18 genera have been reported (Narciso et al, 2019 ; Narciso & Da Silva, 2020 ; Narciso et al, 2020 ; Narciso et al 2021a , 2021b ; Oliveira et al, 2021 ). However, some authors affirm that such diversity is still underestimated, since only a small fraction of the Brazilian ichthyofauna has been studied for parasitic copepods (Luque et al, 2013 ; Taborda et al, 2016 ; Narciso & Da Silva, 2020 ; Paschoal et al, 2022 ).…”