Athelges takanoshimensis Ishii, 1914

Williams, Jason D. & Boyko, Christopher B., 2015, Abdominal bopyrid parasites (Crustacea: Isopoda: Bopyridae: Athelginae) of diogenid hermit crabs from the western Pacific, with descriptions of a new genus and four new species, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 64, pp. 33-69 : 42

Athelges takanoshimensis Ishii, 1914

(Fig. 3E)

Athelges takanoshimensis Ishii, 1914: 519–529 , pl. 7; Boyko, 2004: 697–701, figs. 14, 15; Markham, 2009: 229–233, fig. 5 (full synonymy), 2010: 179; An et al., 2011: 2902–2904 , fig. 1; Kwon, 2012: 28–30, fig. 11; Tudge et al., 2012, 289, 312, fig. 70.31C, D; Cericola & Williams, 2015: 236 – 252, figs. 1, 2–7, Tables I, II.

Athelges “undescribed species” Haig & Ball, 1988: 177.

“probably… A. takanoshimensis ” Markham, 2010: 179 .

Material examined. Indonesia: Mature female (7.14 mm, with female Cabirops sp. in brood chamber) ( LACM CR 1975-589.4), infesting Ciliopagurus strigatus (unknown SL), inhabiting unknown shell, Banda Islands, Stn. 9, west end Banda Besar (04°32.6’S, 129°52’E), 0–12 m, coll. E. Ball et al., 12 April 1975. Papua New Guinea: Immature female (3.2 mm), mature male (1.7 mm) (MNHN-IU-2014-12733), infesting Calcinus latens (1.7 m SL), inhabiting unknown shell, Stn. PD 35, Rempi area, south Barang Island, 05°01.3’S 145°47’E, 10–12 m, coll. Expédition Papua Niugini, 19–20 November 2012; immature female (3.0 mm) (MNHN- IU-2014-12734), infesting juvenile Diogenes sp. (1.4 mm SL), inhabiting unknown shell, Stn. PS19, Hargun Island, 05°01.6’S 145°48.1’E, 5 m, coll. Expédition Papua Niugini, 20 November 2012; mature female (5.0 mm) (MNHN- IU-2014-12735), infesting unknown hermit crab, inhabiting unknown shell, Stn. PB16, north Sek Island, 05°04.7’S 145°48.8’E, 5 m, coll. Expédition Papua Niugini, 13 November 2012. Philippines: Mature female (15.8 mm) ( USNM 1283371), infesting female Dardanus woodmasoni (7.46 mm SL), inhabiting unidentified shell, Cebu, Mactan Island, Maribago, coll. P. Cassidy, 2 December 1996.

Type locality. Takanoshima , Japan ( Ishii, 1914) .

Distribution. Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan ( Boyko, 2004; Cericola & Williams, 2015); Singapore ( Markham, 2009); Indonesia ( Haig & Ball, 1988); China: Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea ( An et al., 2011); Philippines (herein).

Hosts. Diogenidae : Calcinus latens (herein), Ciliopagurus strigatus ( Haig & Ball, 1988) , Dardanus woodmasoni (herein), Diogenes edwardsii (De Haan, 1849) ( Boyko, 2004) , Diogenes pallescens Whitelegge, 1897 ( Markham, 2009) , Diogenes sp. (herein). Paguridae : Pagurodofleinia doederleini ( Doflein, 1902) , Pagurus angustus ( Stimpson, 1858) ( Cericola & Williams, 2015) , Pagurus constans ( Stimpson, 1858) , P. filholi (de Man, 1887) , P. japonicus ( Stimpson, 1858) , P. lanuginosus De Haan, 1849 , P. maculosus Komai & Imafuku, 1996 , P. middendorfii Brandt, 1851 ( Boyko, 2004) , P. minutus Hess, 1865 ( An et al., 2011), P. pectinatus ( Stimpson, 1858) , P. proximus Komai, 2000 , P. trigonocheirus ( Stimpson, 1858) ( Boyko, 2004) .

Size Range (Length). Females: to 18.0 mm, males: to 4.28 mm ( Boyko, 2004).

Remarks. The Indonesian specimens identified by John Markham and reported by Haig & Ball (1988) as “an undescribed species of Athelges ” (LACM CR 1975- 589.4) were examined and found to conform well to A. takanoshimensis with its characteristic female terminal abdominal segment (Fig. 3E). Markham (2010: 178) reported that the material from Indonesia of Haig & Ball (1988) was lost, based on a personal communication from E. E. Ball, but it was actually in the LACM collections. However, Markham (2010) correctly surmised that the material was probably A. takanoshimensis and not a new species. Athelges takanoshimensis is an oft-reported and relatively widely distributed bopyrid, known from 15 hermit crab hosts (see McDermott et al., 2010; Cericola & Williams 2015), but the parasite is apparently rare in the Philippines. Only a single female was found, although only a single specimen of the host, Dardanus woodmasoni , was collected. A small number of Ciliopagurus strigatus , the host of the Indonesian specimen reported herein, were collected from the Philippines, but none bore abdominal or branchial bopyrids. Ciliopagurus strigatus is known as a bopyrid host ( Haig & Ball, 1988; Markham, 2010) for A. takanoshimensis while Dardanus woodmasoni is first reported here as a host for bopyrids. One female of A. takanoshimensis from Indonesia contained a hyperparasitic isopod ( Cabirops sp. ) in brood chamber.