Nerocila benrosei n. sp. (Isopoda: Cymothoidae), an external parasite of hogfishes from the Northern Bahamas

ABSTRACT

Nerocila benrosei n. sp. is described from the hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximus (Walbaum), the Spanish hogfish, Bodianus rufus (Linnaeus), (Perciformes Labridae) from the Northern Bahamas. Nerocila benrosei differs from all species of Nerocila by having the body of females 1.4 to 1.9 times as wide, as long, instead of 2.0 - 3.0 times) and pleopods 1 and 2 lacking accessory lamellae. It differs from the only species of Nerocila with which it overlaps geographically, N. lanceolata (Say, 1818), by having the lateral margins of pleonites 1-5 strongly produced ventrally, coxae 5-7 manifestly shorter than the posterolateral projection of the respective pereonite, and a vaulted dorsal surface. The species of Nerocila in the northwestern Atlantic have almost mutually exclusive geographic ranges New England to Panama, including Bermuda and the northern coast of Cuba (Nerocila lanceolata); Brazil to Trinidad and Tobago (Nerocila fluviatilis Schiodte and Meinert, 1881); and the northern Bahamas and Bermuda (Nerocila benrosei). No species of Nerocila have been reported from the insular Caribbean. Nerocila benrosei appears to be highly host and site specific. (AU)