"Australia"; Great Barrier Reef; Newcastle, Aus- 

 tralia; New South Wales, Australia. 



Remarks. — This species has been reported many 

 times in the literature. Vervoort (1962) provided 

 a good description with figures of the female; 

 little additional description is necessary here. He, 

 however, described and figured the exopod of leg 1 

 as 2-segmented; all of our specimens show this 

 ramus to be 3-segmented and similar to the figure 

 of leg 1 provided in the description of the follow- 

 ing species. 



We tested the variability of one taxonomic char- 

 acter — ^the relative lengths of the spines and 

 setae on leg 5 — in our large series of collections 

 from a wide range of hosts and localities. It was 

 apparent that the spines and setae are of taxo- 

 nomic importance and that their relative lengths 

 vary in Parabomolochus heUoiies as well as in 

 other species. This variation in the four species of 

 Parabomolochus considered in this paper is dis- 

 cussed in a later section. 



Parabomolochus ensiculus Cressey, New Species 

 Figures 73 to 86 



/Specimens studied. — A total of 153 individuals 

 from 14 collections from under the oral valves of 

 two species of eastern Pacific needlefish hosts: 

 Strongylura exUds, San Diego, Calif. (2 collec- 

 tions) ; Baja California (3 collections) ; Chame 

 Point, Panama (gill cavity) ; Pachacamac 

 Island, Peru ; Peru ; Strongylura scajndaris, Bal- 

 boa, Panama (2 collections) ; Manabi Province, 

 Ecuador; Guyaquil, Ecuador; Point Pizarro, 

 Peru ; Western South America. 



Holotype female (USNM 125691), allotype 

 male (USNM 125692), and 33 ^laratypes (29 

 females, 4 males) (USNM 125693) from the oral 

 valves of 5 Strongylura scapularls (USNM 84276) 

 collected at Balboa, Panama. 



Female. — Body form as in figure 73. Total 

 length and greatest width of three specimens: 

 1,420;!^ by 520,i, 1,270;^ by 600^, 1,195/* by 480jii. 

 Body form in general like that of P. hellones. 

 Thoracic segments not inflated dorsally, not over- 

 lapping succeeding segments. Genital segment and 

 abdomen as in P. hellones, except for the patch of 

 spinules present on the last abdominal segment 

 of P. e'Tisiculus. Caudal rami (fig. 74) armed with 

 setae as in P. hellones but different from that 

 species by the presence of a prominent patch of 



spinules on the ventral surface of the posterior 

 third of the ramus; rami of three specimens 

 measure 133jn by 57/t, 129ft by 58/i, and 119/n by 

 46/u; slightly more than twice as long as wide (in 

 P. hellones the rami are less than twice as long as 

 wide, 100/* by 58/*) . 



First antenna (fig. 75) armed as in figure. 

 Second antenna (fig. 75) as in P. hellones. Oral 

 area as in figure 76. Labrum surface with two 

 patches of scalelike processes and fine fringe on 

 lateral border. Mandible broad, bladelike with 

 small accessory process at tip. Paragnath finger- 

 shaped with row of fringe. First maxilla with 

 three stout plumose setae and a shorter naked one. 

 Second maxilla (fig. 77) with two distal processes; 

 shorter plumose, longer with heavy fringe. Maxil- 

 liped (fig. 75) with prominent lateral tooth on 

 outer border of terminal hook as in P. hellones. 



Legs 1 to 4 biramose, all rami 3-segmented. 

 Leg 1 (fig. 78) exopod first segment with broad 

 spine on outer distal corner, surface of spine 

 striated; remainder of leg armed with spines and 

 setae as in figure. Leg 2 (fig. 79) as in F. hel- 

 lones except last segment of exopod with three 

 outer spines {P. hellones has four), bases of setae 

 swollen on first two segments of endopod. Leg 3 

 (fig. 80) and leg 4 (fig. 81) as in P. hellones except 

 terminal spine on exopod of both legs proportion- 

 ally longer in P. ermrulns The spine and seta for- 

 mulas for legs 1 to 4 follow : 



Leg 5 (fig. 82) 2-segmented; terminal segment 

 with an outer prominent spine, two terminal broad 

 spines separated by a median terminal seta, and 

 patches of setules near bases of spines as in 

 figure. Leg 6 absent. 



Egg sacs about 800 /* long, containing about 

 40 eggs. 



Color in preserved specimens, cream. 



^/aIe.— Body form as in figure 83. Total length 

 1,116 /t. Greatest width 507 /*. Cephalon slightly 

 wider than long (406 /* x 507 /*) . Thoracic segments 

 bearing legs 2 to 5 free, each narrower than the pre- 

 ceding segment. Similar to P. hellones in general 

 body form. Last abdominal segment and caudal 



COPEPODS AND NEEDLEFISHES 



367 



