Three new records of copepods (Siphonostomatoida) parasitic on marine fishes of Iraq, including the relegation of two species of Lernanthropinus to Lernanthropinus temminckii (von Nordmann, 1864)

Abstract

Three parasitic copepods (Siphonostomatoida) belonging to three different genera were recovered from marine fishes of Iraq, and are listed here as new records. The sea lice Caligus epinepheli Yamaguti, 1936 (Caligidae) was collected from the Japanese threadfin bream, Nemipterus japonicus (Bloch). It had been frequently reported from teleost fishes around the world. The second record, comprising male and female, was another caligid, rarely caught from fishes - Hermilius longicornis Bassett-Smith, 1898, collected from the giant catfish, Netuma thalassina (Ruppell). This paper features the first description of the male of the latter species. The third record was the lernanthropid, Lernanthropinus temminckii (von Nordmann, 1864) (Lernanthropidae), redescribed based on the specimens collected from the greater lizard fish, Saurida tumbil (Bloch) (Synodontidae). In order to clarify its taxonomic status, our specimen was compared with the holotype of L. gibbosus (Pillai, 1964) from the collections of Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, and the syntypes of L. sauridae Do in Ho and Do, 1985 and L. temminckii from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. We found similarities in the morphology of the body, mouthparts, and legs 1-4 in three above-mentioned species. The prominent feature, the setation pattern of legs 1 and 2 was similar in all the female specimens examined. In the light of this, we formally relegate L. gibbosus and L. sauridae to synonymy with L. temminckii. Another important similarity is that Lernanthropinus gibbosus, L. sauridae, and L. temminckii have exclusively been parasitic on lizardfishes (Synodontidae). The attachment site of all three copepods reported form Iraq were the gill filaments.