Glossobius Schiöedte & Meinert, 1883

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 : 25-26

Genus Glossobius Schiöedte & Meinert, 1883

Glossobius Schiöedte & Meinert, 1883: 299 .— Bruce & Bowman, 1989: 12.— Martin, Bruce & Nowak, 2015b: 338 . Ceratothoa .—Richardson 1905: 283.— Schultz 1969: 155.— Kussakin 1979: 287. [Not Ceratothoa Dana 1852 , Brusca 1981].

Types species. Ceratothoa linearis Dana 1853 [junior synonym of Glossobius impressus (Say 1818) ]; by subsequent designation ( Bruce & Bowman 1989).

Diagnosis of female. Body narrow, about 2.5–3.5 times longer than wide; cephalon not immersed in pereonite 1, anterolateral margin concave, eyes present; pereonite 1 anterolateral margins minute or projecting laterally, anterior margin straight or slightly convex; pleonite 1 overlapped by pereonite 7, narrower than pleonites 2–5; antennula bases contiguous, peduncle articles 1–3 of similar size and bigger than other articles, peduncle articles 1–3 anterodistal margins produced, terminal articles without setae; coxae not overlapping adjacent pereonites; mandible articles 1–3 articulated; maxilla with welldefined medial and lateral lobes; maxilliped palp article 3 apex with multiple recurved spines; pereopods 5–7 basis with raised carina uropod rami not extending beyond pleotelson posterior margin.

Remarks. Martin et al. (2015b) provided a provisional diagnosis. Glossobius can be recognized by the body strongly vaulted; cephalon not being immersed in pereonite 1; antenna bases in contact, antennula subequal to antenna; mandible palp article 2 longer than article 3; maxilla medial lobe distinct; maxillula with 3–5 or more terminal spines; maxilliped article with 2 oostegite lobes; pereonite 1 anterolateral margins minute or projecting laterally, anterior margin straight or slightly convex; pleonite 1 overlapped by pereonite 7, narrower than pleonites 2–5; brood pouch from coxae 1–4 and 6; uropod rami shorter than pleotelson, rami exopod shorter than endopod. Species of Glossobius are restricted to beloniform fishes.

Recently Martin et al. (2015b) reviewed the genus Glossobius from Australia. Glossobius differ from other buccal attaching genera in the following characterstics: Ceratothoa pereonite 1 anterolateral margins projecting forward; pereonite 6 longer than Glossobius ; anterior margin of pereonite 1 indented ( Bruce & Bowman 1989; Martin et al. 2015b); Cinusa Schiöedte & Meinert, 1884 : pereonites 3 and 4 widest anteriorly; antenna slender ( Hadfield et al. 2010); brood pouch arising from coxae 2–5 ( Hadfield 2012); Cymothoa strongly vaulted body, coxae partially visible dorsally, pereonite 7 posterolateral margins extending past pleonite 1; and pleopods 3–5 with large fleshy folds ( Martin et al 2016); Lobothorax Bleeker, 1857 : pereonite 1 anterolateral margins rounded, with strongly developed lobes, dorsally concave and flattened, extending past rostrum ( Yu & Bruce 2006); and Smenispa Özdikmen, 2009 : pleopods 3–5 have large folds, and pereon and pleon are co-linear with subparallel lateral margins ( Martin et al. 2014).

To date, the genus Glossobius Schiöedte & Meinert (1883) includes eight valid species (WoRMS, 2018). Of this three species of the genus have been reported from Indian waters, namely, Glossobius auritus Bovallius, 1885 , Glossobius hemiramphi Williams & Williams, 1985 (Aneesh et al. 2017) and Glossobius impressus (Say, 1818) ( Vigneshwaran et al. 2018b) .