Abstract
A new species of parasitic copepod, Octopicola huanghaiensis n. sp., collected from the octopuses Amphioctopus fangsiao (d'Orbigny) and Octopus minor (Sasaki) (Octopoda: Octopodidae) in the Yellow Sea (off Qingdao, Shandong Province, China), is described. The new species is most similar to O. superba Humes, 1957, but can be distinguished from the latter by: (i) the third antennal segment having a different ornamentation; (ii) the fourth antennal segment of females much shorter than that in O. superba (49 vs 94 μm); (iii) males much smaller than females (mean body length 1.3 vs 2.0 mm, respectively) (vs similar male and female body size in O. superba, 1.9 mm and 1.8 mm respectively); and (iv) the presence of a spike at the posterior tip of each labrum flap. Octopicola huanghaiensis n. sp. is the first species of Octopicola Humes, 1957 reported from A. fangsiao and O. minor and is the only species of the family Octopicolidae Humes & Boxshall, 1996 known in North Pacific waters.
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