Nerocila loveni Bovallius, 1887

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 : 53-57

Nerocila loveni Bovallius, 1887

( Figs 8 g–i, 9–12)

Nerocila loveni Bovallius, 1887: 6 , pl. l ( figs 13–17 ), 2 ( figs 18–21 ). — Stebbing, 1893: 352, pl. 15.— Nierstrasz, 1915:73; 1931: 124. — Trilles, 1979:251, pl. 7 (fig. 2).— Bruce, 1987b: 405. —Bruce & Harrisson-Nelson, 1988: 594, fig. 5. — Trilles, Rameshkumar & Ravichandran, 2013: 1273–1286, fig. 2e. Anand Kumar, Rameshkumar, Ravichandran, Rethna Priya, Nagarajan & Kwang Leng, 2015: 206–210, fig. 2e.—Rameshkumar, Ramesh, Ravichandran & Trilles, 2014a: 940–944, fig. 1f. — Rameshkumar, Ravichandran & Ramesh, 2014c: 124–128, fig. 3.— Rameshkumar, Ramesh, Ravichandran & Trilles, 2016: 968–970, figs 1, 2.

Type and type locality. The type material is not known. Trilles (1979) stated that the type locality is Indonesia .

Material examined. 6 ovig. females (17–21 mm) ( CAS / MBRM 414 –419), 3 non ovig. females (16–20 mm) ( CAS / MBRM 414 –422), Nagapattinam , 8 January 2011 and 1 April 2011, from Eubleekeria splendens (Cuvier, 1829) , coll. G. Rameshkumar ; 1 ovig. female (20 mm), Vedaranyam , 18 September 2016, from Carangoides malabaricus . coll. S. Ravichandran, ( ZSI / MBRC D1-544) , Southeastern coast of India.

Description female. Body about 2.5–3 times as long as wide, widest between pereonites 6–7. Cephalon anterior margin smoothly rounded or with slender medial point. Eyes large and indistinct, occupying 0.5width of cephalon. Pereonites 1, 5–7 longest and subequal, 2–4 shortest and subequal. Posterolateral angles of pereonites 1 and 5–7 produced narrow and pointed process, those of pereonites 2–4 weakly produced. Coxae of pereonites 2–7 produced into successively longer pointed processes, always exceeding posteroventral corners of pereonites and more strongly angled away from the body; coxae 5–7 larger than coxae 2–4. All pleonites visibles; pleonite 1, 2 longest, pleonite 5 shortest, ventrolateral margins of pleonites 1 and 2 produced as far as pleonite 5 curving posteriorly obliquely to the longitudinal body axis; pleonites 3–5 lateral margins weakly acute. Pleotelson about 1.2 times wider than long, smoothly rounded, lateral margins curving to medial point.

Antennula not extending to pereonite 1, composed with 8 articles, articles 1 and 2 longer than article 3, articles 5–8 with plumose or spiny setae. Antenna with 9 articles, articles 4, 5 and 7–9 with plumose or spiny setae. Mandibular palp with 5–8 unequal setae at apex of article 3. Maxillula with 4 terminal recurved apical spines. Maxilla with one spine on medial lobe and 2 spines on lateral lobe. Maxilliped with oostegial lobe, distal palp segment with 3 terminal spines.

Dactylus of pereopods 1, 2 and 4 with swellings; pereopods 1–6 without marginal hooked spines; pereopod 7 with 1 spine on carpus and 4 unequal spines on propodus. Pleopods 1 and 2 with five coupling hooks on protopod medial margin; pleopods 3–4 endopod with a single lobe, proximomedial lobe well-developed and folded; pleopod 5 endopod with several large folds and proximomedial lobe well-developed and folded.

Uropod slender, tapering exopod and endopod, exopod about 2 times longer than endopod, both rami extending far beyond posterior margin of pleotelson, exopod extending by far beyond endopod.

Colour. Pale tan and uropod with sparsely scattered chromatophores.

Size. Ovig. females 17–21 mm; non ovig. females 16–20 mm.

Remarks. Nerocila loveni can be distinguished by the coxae of pereonites produced into successively longer pointed processes, always exceeding posteroventral corners of pereonites and more strongly angled away from the body. Cephalon anterior margin smoothly rounded or with a slender medial point. Ventrolateral margins of pleonites 1 and 2 produced as far as pleonite 5 curving posteriorly obliquely to the longitudinal body axis.

This species can be distinguished from N. depressa by having the coxae and pereonite posterolateral extensions bent dorsally, and expressed laterally rather than posteriorly. Other characters are discussed under Remarks for N. depressa to which this species is similar. Likewise, Bruce & Harrisson-Nelson, (1988) examined Singapore and Thailand specimen and those were reported Nerocila loveni distinguished from N. depressa characterized by coxae of perenoites.

Distribution. The species has been distributed in the northern central Indo–Pacific region: Singapore, Thailand, Borneo and Sarawak (Bruce & Harrisson-Nelson 1988), India ( Trilles et al. 2013; Rameshkumar et al. 2014 a, 2014b) and East Malaysia (Anand Kumar et al. 2015).

Hosts. The species has been collected from the family Leiognathidae : Leiognathus sp. (Bruce & Harrisson-Nelson 1988), Eubleekeria splendens ( Trilles et al. 2013; Rameshkumar et al. 2014a), family Chirocentridae : Chirocentrus dorab (Forsskål, 1775) (Anand Kumar et al. 2015) , family Carangidae : Carangoides malabaricus ( Rameshkumar et al. 2014b) and family Haemulidae : Pomadasys maculatus (Bloch, 1793) ( Rameshkumar et al. 2016) .

Figures

FIGURE 8. a–c, Nerocila exocoeti Pillai, 1954, female (25 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-542); d–f, Nerocila longispina Miers, 1880, female (22 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-543); g–i, Nerocila loveni Bovallius, 1887, female (20 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-544); j–l, Nerocila phaiopleura Bleeker, 1857, female (26 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-545); m–o, Nerocila poruvae Rameshkumar et al. 2011, female (24 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-546); p–r, Nerocila serra Schiöedte & Meinert, 1881, female (28 mm), (CAS/MBRM–661).

FIGURE 13. a–c, Nerocila sundaica Bleeker, 1857, female (24 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-547); d–f, Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877), female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-548); g–i, Norileca indica (H. Milne Edwards, 1840), female (26 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-549); j–l, Norileca triangulata (Richardson, 1910), female (16 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-550); m–o, Ryukyua circularis (Pillai, 1954), female (13 mm), (CAS/MBRM C-227); p–r, Ryukyua globosa Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1994, female (14 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-552).

FIGURE 14. Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877), female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-548). a, dorsal view; b, lateral view; c, mouthpart with antennula and antenna; d, antennula; e, antenna; f, mandible; g, maxilla; h, maxillula; i,maxilliped.

FIGURE 15. Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877), female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-548). a–f, pereopods 1–4, 6 & 7.

FIGURE 16. Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877), female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-548). a–d, pleopods 1, 2, 4 & 5; e, uropod.

FIGURE 17. Norileca triangulata (Richardson, 1910), female (16 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-550). a, dorsal view; b, antennula; c, antenna; d, mandible; e, maxilla; f, maxillula; g, maxilliped; h, mouthpart with antennula and antenna; i, lateral view.

FIGURE 18. Norileca triangulata (Richardson, 1910), female (16 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-550). a–f, pereopods 1, 2, 4 & 5–7.

FIGURE 19. Norileca triangulata (Richardson, 1910), female (16 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-550). a–e, pleopods 1–5; f, uropod.

FIGURE 20. Ryukyua globosa Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1994, female (14 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-552). a, dorsal view; b, antennula; c, antenna; d, frons; e, lateral view.

FIGURE 21. Ryukyua globosa Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1994, female (14 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-552). a, mandible; b, maxilla; c, maxillula; g, maxilliped; e–h, pereopod 1, 2, 4 & 5.