Rediscovery and first South African records of the parasitic copepod Cancerilla oblonga Bartsch, 1975 (Crustacea, Cancerillidae)

Abstract

The parasitic copepod Cancerilla oblonga, previously know only from the single holotype female collected from Luderitz Bay, Namibia, is rediscovered in Cape Town, South Africa, where it parasitises the brittlestar Amphiura capensis. The first photographic and SEM images of this species are presented and prevalence rates estimated. Of 240 hosts examined, 25 (=10.42%) were infected, of these 7.53% carried a single copepod, 2.09% two copepods and 0.84% three copepods. This discovery is the first record of any siphonostomatoid copepod infecting an invertebrate host in South Africa.