A new genus for Entophilus mirabiledictu Markham & Dworschak, 2005 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cryptoniscoidea: Entophilidae) with remarks on morphological support for epicaridean superfamilies based on larval characters.

Abstract

A detailed reexamination of male and female Entophilus mirabiledictu Markham & Dworschak, 2005 (an endoparasite of callianassid shrimp), resulted in recognition of seven female and five male characters that separate the species from its sole congener, E. omnitectus Richardson, 1903 (an endoparasite of munidid squat lobsters). These characters show that the two species are so different as to warrant E. mirabiledictu being placed in its own genus within the Entophilidae. Additionally, a review of the morphological features of entophilid cryptoniscus larvae led to the finding that the number of flagellar segments on the second antenna offers morphological support for a recent molecular phylogeny of epicaridean taxa that rearranged the component families within the two recognised superfamilies. This work highlights the power of using larval characters in testing hypotheses on the evolutionary relationships of epicaridean taxa.