Anilocra Leach, 1818

Ravichandran, S., Vigneshwaran, P. & Rameshkumar, G., 2019, A taxonomic review of the fish parasitic isopod family Cymothoidae Leach, 1818 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothooidea) of India, Zootaxa 4622 (1), pp. 1-99 : 11

Genus Anilocra Leach, 1818

Anilocra Leach, 1818: 348 , 350.— Desmarest, 1825: 306.— Milne Edwards, 1840: 255.— Dana, 1853: 747.— Schiöedte & Meinert, 1881: 100.— Gerstaecker, 1882: 231.— Richardson, 1905: 25.— Hale, 1926: 210.—Schuitz, 1969: 153.— Kensley, 1978: 78.— Kussakin, 1979: 281.— Brusca, 1981: 140.— Brusca & Iverson, 1985: 45.— Bruce, 1987a: 89.— Trilles, 1975: 303.— Trilles, 1994: 55.— Thatcher & Blumenfeld, 2001: 270.— Welicky, Hadfield, Sikkel & Smit, 2017: 24 .— Aneesh, Helna, Trilles & Chandra, 2017b: 1–8.

Canolira Leach, 1818: 350 .

Epichthyes Herkiots, 1870: 122.

Type species. The type species for this genus is Anilocra cuvieri Leach, 1818 , junior synonym of Anilocra physodes ( Linnaeus, 1758) (see Bruce 1987a); by subsequent designation ( Kussakin 1979).

Leach (1818) described three species: Anilocra cuvieri , Anilocra mediterranea Leach, 1818 , and Anilocra capensis Leach, 1818 without designating a type species. A. cuvieri was designated as the type species by Kussakin (1979). Both Anilocra cuvieri and A. mediterranea were synonymized with A. physodes ( Trilles 1975; Ellis 1981).

Diagnosis. A detailed diagnosis was given by Bruce (1987a) and Aneesh et al. (2017b).

Remarks. Anilocra can be identified by the body dorsal surface being strongly vaulted, widest at pereonites 5 and 6; antenna narrowly separated, expanded; mandible palp expanded; maxilla medial lobe with small robust setae; pereonite 7 lateral margins do not extend posteriorly past pleonite 1; pleonite 1 wider than other pleonites; brood pouch from coxae 1–5; posterior pocket present; pereopod 7 with robust setae; pleopods visible from dorsal view; pleopods 3–5 with large fleshy folds, with proximomedial lamellar lobe on 3–5; uropod rami extend past the posterior margin of pleotelson.

The brood pouch of Anilocra is formed by 5 pairs of overlapping oostegites arising from the bases of pereopods 1–5; oostegites of pereonite 5 is very large and that of pereopods 1–4 are small, anteriorly covered by maxilliped oostegial lobes and posteriorly by a pocket formed from the sternite ( Bruce 1987a; Aneesh et al. 2017b). Akin to that, in the species of Pleopodias Richardson, 1910 the brood pouch is formed by two large oostegites arising from pereonite 5, smaller oostegites on pereonites 1–4, and posterior pocket. On the other hand, in the specimens belonging to the genus Nerocila Leach 1818 , the brood pouch is formed by four pairs of overlapping oostegites arising from the bases of pereopods 2, 3, 4 and 6. The brood pouch of Renocila Miers, 1880 consisting of alternately overlapping oostegites arising from the base of pereopods 1–4 and 6 ( Bruce 1987a, c).

Welicky et al. (2017) provided molecular data for three species of Anilocra from Caribbean coral reef fishes, including one new species Anilocra brillae Welicky et al. 2017 . Welicky et al. (2017) also discussed the distinguishing characters of Anilocra from other body-surface attaching cymothoid genera, such as Nerocila Leach, 1818 , Renocila Miers, 1880 , Creniola Bruce, 1987b and Pleopodias Richardson, 1910 . According to Boyko et al. (2008) the genus Anilocra is composed of 50 valid species, and more than 50% of them are known to be described after 1950 (Williams & Williams 1981; Bruce 1987a; Welicky et al. 2017). More than 18 species are known from the Australian–Malaysian region and nine species are identified from the West Indies ( Bruce 1987a; Welicky et al. 2017). In India, Anilocra dimidiate Bleeker 1857 and Anilocra leptosoma Bleeker 1857 are currently the only valid species of the genus reported from Indian waters ( Rameshkumar et al. 2011; Aneesh et al. 2017b). Anilocra longicauda Schiöedte & Meinert 1881 were also reported from India whereas Jayadev & Sanjeevaraj (1984) reported A. longicauda from Pulicat Lake, Chennai. However, these reports are not confirmed and require clarification ( Bruce 1987a).