Updates on Cyamidae (Crustacea: Amphipoda): redescriptions of Cyamus monodontis Lütken, 1870 and Cyamus nodosus Lütken, 1861, a new species of Isocyamus, and new host records for Syncyamus ilheusensis Haney, De Almeida and Reis, 2004

ABSTRACT

Specimens of cyamids were collected from fresh cetacean carcasses from Brazil, Iceland and New Caledonia. Identifications were based on literature and comparative material. Redescriptions based on the type series of Cyamus monodontis and Cyamus nodosus collected from narwhal Monodon monoceros are proposed, and lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated. A new species of Isocyamus was described herein, Isocyamus indopacetus sp. nov., which is characterised by the maxilliped with outer plate and two spine-like processes on the bases of gills. This is the first record of a cyamid parasitising the Longman’s beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) from New Caledonia. An updated key to Isocyamus is presented herein. Syncyamus ilheusensis is registered for the first time for the melon-headed whale Peponocephala electra and from the Clymene’s dolphin Stenella clymene from Ceará, Brazil.

www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:451A4857-9CFC-4C81-AF70-8DFD0D7CEB16

KEYWORDS:

• Whale louse
• ectoparasite
• cetaceans
• Indopacetus pacificus
• Caprelloidea

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Claire Garrigue (Opération Cétacés) and Dr Gary Poore (Museum Victoria) for collection of Isocyamus indopacetus sp. nov., Dr Jørgen Olesen and Danny Eibye-Jacobsen (Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen) for providing the type material and new collection numbers of Cyamus monodontis and C. nodosus, and Dr Laure Corbari (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle) for depositing the type of I. indopacetus at MNHN collection. We are grateful to all staff who helped with sample collection. We are extremely thankful to Dr William Bryan Jennings (Museu Nacional/UFRJ) for the English revision. The first author thanks Francisco E.L. Nascimento and Dr. Juan Pablo Botero (Museu Nacional/UFRJ) for providing helpful comments on the manuscript. We thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the MSc scholarship for TIA and a research productivity grant for CSS (proc. no. 312343/2015-9). The cetacean specimens from Brazil were rescued by Aquasis’ Projeto Manati, sponsored by Petrobras.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.