Bopyrissa wolffi Markham, 1978

Figs 1, 2F, 9, Table 1

Bopyrissa wolffi Markham, 1978: 103–107, figs 1–5, table 1.

Stegias clibanarii – Pearse 1932: 4–5, figs 22–26 (in part). — Schultz 1969: 323, fig. 514 (non stegias clibanarii).

Pseudione sp. – Menzies & Glynn 1968: 17–18, figs 2A–B. — Markham 1972: 64; 1975a: 228. — McDermott 1974: 2.

Bopyrissa wolffi – Markham 1979: 523 (in key), 524; 1986: 154; 2003: 72. — Kensley 1994: table 1. — Markham & Donath-Hernández 1990: 243. — Markham et al. 1990: 416. — Camp 1998: 134. — McDermott 2002: 33–40, tables 1, 3. — Boyko & Williams 2004: 359–361, 369. — RománContreras, 2008: 106 (in table 2). — McDermott et al. 2010: 8. — Cericola & Williams 2015: table 1. — An et al. 2018: 579, 589 (in key), table 1. — Williams et al. 2019: 92 (in key), 93 (in key), 95. — Klompmaker et al. 2022 fig. 5.2.

Bopyrissa wolfii (sic) – Romero-Rodríguez & Martínez-Mayén 2018: 1191 (in table II).

Material examined

MEXICO • 1 ovigerous ♀ (2.18 mm TL), 1 ♂ (0.78 mm TL); Quintana Roo, Cozumel, Km 13 coastal road; 20º25′09″ N, 87º00′42″ W; 20 Apr. 1988; J.L. Villalobos et al. leg.; host ♀ of Clibanarius tricolor (3.20 mm SL); O. Valdez det. host; CNCR-36501 • 1 ovigerous ♀ (3.37 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.15 mm TL); Quintana Roo, Ensenada Lamcom, NE border of Isla Blanca; 21º24′45.44″ N, 86º48′35.29″ W; 18 Jun. 2005; J.L. Villalobos et al. leg.; host ♂ of same species as for preceding (4.85 mm SL); J. Romero det. host; CNCR-36502-A • 1 ovigerous ♀ (3.32 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.13 mm TL); same collection data as for preceding; host ♀ of same species as for preceding (4.75 mm SL); CNCR-36502-B • 1 ovigerous ♀ (4.90 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.47 mm TL); Veracruz, south inlet of Laguna de Tamiahua; 21º16′45″ N, 97º26′41″ W; 21 Sep. 2011; J.L. Bortolini leg.; host ♀ of Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc, 1801) (7.50 mm SL); G. Cervantes det. hosts; CNCR-36503-A • 1 ovigerous ♀ (3.76 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.20 mm TL); same collection data as for preceding; host ♀ of same species as for preceding (6.07 mm SL); CNCR-36503-B • 1 ovigerous ♀ (4.10 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.04 mm TL); same collection data as for preceding; host ♀ of same species as for preceding (7.70 mm SL); CNCR-36503-C • 1 ovigerous ♀ (4.95 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.64 mm TL); same collection data; host ♂ of same species as for preceding (8.00 mm SL); CNCR-36503-D • 1 ovigerous ♀ (4.50 mm TL), 1 ♂ (1.64 mm TL); same collection data; host ♂ of same species as for preceding (6.47 mm SL); CNCR-36503-E .

Distribution

Bopyrissa wolffi is distributed from North Carolina, Florida and Texas, USA, to the Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Mexico (Boyko & Williams 2004). In Mexico, this bopyrid had only been recorded parasitizing C. tricolor near Akumal, Quintana Roo (Markham et al. 1990); here, two more locations on this coast are added, Isla Blanca and Cozumel, parasitizing C. tricolor . Similarly, for the first time B. wolffi is recorded attached to C. vittatus in Laguna de Tamiahua, Veracruz (Fig. 1A), which is a new locality for this bopyrid in the Gulf of Mexico. McDermott et al. (2010) noted that only two hosts are recognized for B. wolffi, C. tricolor and C. vittatus .

Remarks

Both females (Figs 2F, 9A) and males (Fig. 9K–L) examined match well the description of Bopyrissa wolffi provided by Markham (1978); however, the following variations were observed: the marsupium of five females was partially or totally closed; first pair of oostegites differs in size, the one on the short side of the female was consistently larger than the one on the opposite side (Fig. 9B–E). Most females (n = 7) show the barbula with a single, stout and crenulated lateral projection (Fig. 9F), similar to that noted as variation and illustrated by Markham (1978: fig. 3b) but one of them (CNCR-36501) bears just a small bump on each side on the barbula (Fig. 9G), as well as pleomeres 1–3 distinct whilst pleomeres 4–5 are fused (Fig. 9H). Excepting one female (CNCR-36502-C) that had four pairs of pleopods biramous and the fifth uniramous, all other females examined had five pairs of pleopods biramous, with the endopod thinner and larger than exopod (Fig. 9I).

Markham (1978) described the antennae of B. wolffi as “markedly reduced”, in our females the antennule was short and 3-segmented whilst the antenna was thin, long and 4-segmented, both bearing small apical setae (Fig. 9J). Likewise, in males of this species Markham (1978) noted the antennule of three segments and the antenna as “obscurely segmented (maybe of four segments)”, in the males examined both antennule and antenna were 3-segmented and of similar outline and size (Fig. 9K). The pleopods in our males were a pair of small bulges at middle of each pleomere, those in first pleomere were the largest and from pleomeres 2 to 5 gradually decreasing in size (Fig. 9K).

Reproduction

The average TL of ovigerous females (3.89 ± 0.93 mm) of P. wolffi was more than twice that reported (1.91 mm) by McDermott (1998), since this author recorded ovigerous females between 1.73 and 2.20 mm in size and the females with embryos examined here ranged from 2.18 mm TL to 4.95 mm TL (Table 1). This noticeable difference in sizes may explain the higher overall average fecundity calculated in our samples (2182.17 ± 1660.14 embryos) compared to the mean fecundity of 314 embryos calculated by McDermott (1998). Only the smallest ovigerous female (Table 1), with an evident loss of embryos (220 embryos) was below the range reported by McDermott (1998).

The average length and width of embryos of B. wolffi by stage of development and epicaridium larvae are shown in Table 1. Sizes of embryos in egg stage ranged from 0.109 to 0.145 mm of length and between 0.091 and 0.127 mm of width, whilst the lengths of embryos in stage I varied from 0.145 to 0.182 mm and their width between 0.127 and 0.164 mm. Volume of embryo in egg stage ranged from 0.0005 to 0.0012 mm 3, and for embryos in stage I varied between 0.0012 and 0.0023 mm 3. The average volumes of both stages of development (Table 1) are comparable to those reported for other bopyrids of similar sizes (see Romero-Rodríguez & Álvarez 2020). The epicaridium larvae length ranged from 0.164 to 0.200 mm and the width between 0.109 mm and 0.145 mm.

In both hermit crab species parasitized by B. wolffi a similar number of females and males were recorded, thus no statistical differences were found (χ 2 = 0.01, df =1; P <0.05), and both sexes were of similar average sizes: C. tricolor had an average size of 3.98 ± 1.10 mm of shield for females (n = 2) and 4.85 mm of shield for males (n = 1), whilst in C. vittatus the average size was 7.09 ± 0.89 mm of shield for females (n = 3) and 7.23 ± 1.08 mm of shield for males (n = 2).

The prevalence estimated for B. wolffi was 3.36 %, eight parasitized hosts out of 238 individuals.