Six Species of Lernanthropid Copepods (Siphonostomatoida) Parasitic on Marine Fishes of Taiwan

Abstract

Six species of lernanthropid copepods (Siphonostomatoida: Lernanthropidae) parasitic on marine fishes of Taiwan are reported in this paper. They are: Lernanthropinus sphyraenae (Yamaguti & Yamasu, 1959) from the moonfish Mene maculata (Bloch & Schneider, 1801); Lernanthropsis mugilii (Shishido, 1898) from the flathead mullet Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758; Lernanthropus otolithi Pillai, 1963 from the pawak croaker Pennahia pawak (Lin, 1940); Lernanthropus pomadasysis Rangnekar & Murti, 1961 from the javelin grunter Pomadasys kaakan (Cuvier, 1830); Norion priacanthi (Kirtisinghe, 1956) from the red bigeye Priacanthus macracanthus Cuvier, 1829; and Sagum vespertilio Kabata, 1979 from the spangled emperor Lethrinus nebulosus (Forsskal, 1775). All six species are new to the waters of Taiwan and three of them, L. otolithi, L. pomadasysis and N. priacanthi are also new to the Pacific Ocean. In this paper Sagum tuberculatum Pillai, 1985 is relegated to the junior synonym of Sagum vespertilio Kabata, 1979 and Lernanthropus pomadasysis Rangnekar & Murti, 1961 is resurrected from the synonymy with Lernanthropus abitocephalus Tripathi, 1962.