Abstract
During a parasitological survey of the olfactory sacs of 21 species of Rajiformes (Chondrichthyes) from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean, copepods referable to Dendrapta Kabata (1964) (Siphonostomatoida: Lernaeopodidae) were found parasitizing the cuphead skate Bathyraja scaphiops (Rajiformes: Arhynchobatidae). Morphological analyses using both light and electron microscopy revealed that they belong to a new species. It can be easily distinguished from its congeners by the ratio between lengths of posterior process and trunk (1:0.8), the large to width ratio of trunk (1:0.7) and the armature of the antennule (1, 1, 5 + 1 aesthete). Dendrapta cameroni longiclavata is raised to full specific status, as Dendrapta longiclavata n. comb. Kabata & Gusev, 1966.
Highlights
Dendrapta Kabata, 1964 is a monotypic genus of lernaeopodid copepods parasites of rajid fishes from the Northern Hemisphere
All previous records of the genus Dendrapta are restricted to the Northern Hemisphere
This is the first record of a new member of Dendrapta from the Southern Ocean, which expands the distribution range for the genus
Summary
Dendrapta Kabata, 1964 is a monotypic genus of lernaeopodid copepods parasites of rajid fishes from the Northern Hemisphere. Kabata & Gusev (1966) described the subspecies D. cameroni longiclavata Kabata & Gusev, 1966 from the skin of the ocellate spot skate Okamejei kenojei (Müller & Henle, 1841), Bathyraja smirnovi (Soldatov & Pavlenko, 1915) (as Raja kenojei and R. smirnovi, respectively) and of an unidentified species of the same genus from the Kamchatkan Peninsula and Sakhalin Island, Russia. This subspecies was successively reported on Raja inornata Jordan &. They were found to be representatives of an undescribed species of Dendrapta, which is described
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