Gnathia bermudensis (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae), a new species from the mesophotic reefs of Bermuda, with a key to Gnathia from the Greater Caribbean biogeographic region

Abstract

Gnathia bermudensissp. nov. is described from mesophotic coral ecosystems in Bermuda; it is distinguished by pronounced and pointed supraocular lobes, two superior frontolateral processes and a weak bifid mediofrontal process, pereonite 1 not fused dorsally with the cephalosome, and large eyes. This is the first record of a species of Gnathia from Bermuda. A synopsis and key to the other Gnathia species from the Greater Caribbean biogeographic region is provided.

Praniza (Isopoda: Gnathia) Parasitic on Gills of Arabian carpetshark Chiloscyllium arabicum with Notes of its Occurrence on some Marine Fishes of Iraq

“…Isopods are one of the most morphologically diverse crustacean group (Bayoumy et al, 2013). Gnathiid isopods are temporary ectoparasites that occur in a variety of habitats ranging in depth, water currents, temperature, climate and salinity (Hadfield et al, 2019). Gnathiids have a polymorphic and biphasic life cycle (Ectoparasitic larval stage and free living fasting reproductive stage).…”

“…They are, now suggested to have several biological and environmental relations, like being part of scavengers of the sea, thus they play an important role to clean the marine habitats. Also, they are considered as crucial part of the food chain, in addition to their role as vectors of blood parasites, since their larvae are blood suckers (Hadfield et al, 2019).…”

First record and molecular characterisation of two Gnathia species (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae) from Philippine coral reefs, including a summary of all Central-Indo Pacific Gnathia species

“…Selected adult males were cleaned and prepared for scanning electron microscopy (SEM; PhenomWorld) and illustrations using an Olympus BX41 compound microscope and an Olympus SZX7 dissecting microscope with a camera lucida following the protocol of Hadfield et al (2019) . Species descriptions were based on the adult male gnathiids, prepared in DELTA (DEscriptive Language for TAxonomy) using a general Gnathiidae character set, following the terminology used in Svavarsson and Bruce (2012 , 2019) and Hadfield et al (2019) . Material is deposited in the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.…”

“…Within the Gnathiidae, the genus Gnathia Leach, 1814 is by far the most specious of the 12 currently accepted genera with 133 valid species ( Boyko et al, 2008 onwards). As gnathiids have been reported as one of the more common marine ectoparasites in coral reef habitats ( Grutter, 1994 , 1996 ; Grutter and Poulin, 1998 ), it is no surprise that the majority of Gnathia species are known from coral reef environments ( Svavarsson and Bruce, 2012 , 2019 ; Hadfield et al, 2019 ). This is specifically true for the Central Indo-Pacific (CIP) marine ecosystem realm that, according to Spalding et al's (2007) marine ecoregions of the world, includes coral reefs systems such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Triangle.…”

 Gnathia pipinde sp. nov. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae), a temporary parasite of the pufferfish, Amblyrhynchotes honckenii, from temperate southern Africa

“…The species descriptions of both male and larva were prepared in DELTA (DEscriptive Language for TAxonomy) using a modified Gnathiidae character set (as used in Hadfield et al 2019) for the male and a newly generated character set for the larva. Terminology follows Monod (1926), Cohen and Poore (1994), and Bruce (2012, 2019) for the male and Smit and Basson (2002) and for the larva.…”