Proposal of a new family for Hirodai ohtsukaigen. n. et sp. n. (Crustacea: Copepoda) infesting Uranoscopus guttatus Cuvier, 1829 (Perciformes: Uranoscopidae) from the south-west coast of India

ABSTRACT

Both male and female of Hirodai ohtsukai gen. n. et sp. n. (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopoida) are described based on specimens recovered from the Dollfus’ stargazer Uranoscopus guttatus Cuvier, 1829 (Actinopteri: Perciformes: Uranoscopidae) collected from Colachel, Tamil Nadu, south-west coast of India. Based on the unique morphology of the copepod, which is not similar in characteristics to any of the known cyclopoid families, a new family, Uranoscopicolaidae fam. n., has been proposed to accommodate its only known species, Hirodai ohtsukai gen. n. et sp. n. The genus Hirodai gen. n. has the following combination of characters: (1) general cyclopoid body, possessing four pairs of ventrolateral processes corresponding to the first four pedigerous somites; (2) antennule 6-segmented; (3) antenna 2-segmented, the basal segment with one accessory process, armed with two papillae, one basally and the other terminally and having three setae; distal segment modified into a terminally bent hook; (4) genital double somite is 0.7 times as wide as 5^th somite, and 2.1 times as wide as long; genital opening ventral; (5) egg sac multiseriate; (6) maxilliped vestigial in adult female; (7) 2-segmented maxilla, the terminal segment with a ventral robust seta at the middle, the rounded apex armed with a bunch of spinules on both surface, except in the inner middle portion; (8) caudal ramus with two long and two small terminal papillae; and (9) legs 1 to 4 biramous with 3-segmented rami possessing setae, leg 5 uniramous and unsegmented, and leg 6 absent. Ecological remarks on Hirodai ohtsukai gen. n. et sp. n. are also provided.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6911391D-CD0B-4B32-AC55-F89872CEC129

KEYWORDS:

• marine fish parasite
• Copepoda
• Uranoscopicolaidae fam. n.
• new genus
• Indian ocean
• new family
• Dollfus’ stargazer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

PTA and AKH: collection, identification, illustration and manuscript preparation. PTA, AKH, BAVM and ABK: conceived and designed the research and critically reviewed the manuscript to improve its quality. All authors have proofread and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The holotype and three paratype specimens are deposited in the Western Ghat Field Research Centre of Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode (ZSI/WGRC) and the other four paratypes are in PTA and AKH’s personal collection, extended in India (CAH).

Ethics approval consent to participate

Not applicable. The specimens (host and parasite) are not under the listed category of experimental animals that require ethics approval.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially funded by the Lee Kong Chan Museum of Natural History, National University of Singapore, through funding support to the University of Kerala, on deep-sea crustaceans of India.