Abstract
A new species of the Macrochironidae Humes & Boxshall, 1996 (Copepoda: Cyclopoida), Pseudomacrochiron aureliae n. sp., is described based on adult specimens extracted from the gastrovacular cavity of the scyphistomae of Aurelia sp. (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) collected in the Seto Inland Sea and Ise Bay off the coast of Japan. The new species differs from its congeners by having the following combination of characters: a caudal ramus with a length to width ratio of 3.1; an accessory flagellum on caudal setae II, III and VI; three apical setae on the maxillule; only setae I and II on the maxillary basis; two short spines on the female maxilliped claw (endopod); an armature of III, I, 4 on the terminal exopodal segment of leg 3; an armature of I, II, 2 on the terminal endopodal segment of leg 3; an armature of II, I, 4 on the terminal exopodal segment of leg 4; and a short free exopodal segment of leg 5 (length to width ratio of 1.4) armed with a long seta and short spine. P. aureliae n. sp. is the first member of the genus reported from off Japan and from the scyphistomae of its scyphozoan host.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Shin-ichi Uye for his encouragement during this study, Mariko Takao for collecting and then providing us with scyphistoma samples from Kuba Fishing Port, Il-Hoi Kim (Kangnung National University) for providing relevant literature and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This research was made possible by financial support from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant No. 21-09117) to D.T.
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Tang, D., Yasuda, A., Yamada, S. et al. A new species of Pseudomacrochiron Reddiah, 1969 (Crustacea: Copepoda: Macrochironidae) associated with scyphistomae of the moon jellyfish Aurelia sp. (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) off Japan. Syst Parasitol 81, 125–134 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-011-9332-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-011-9332-9