Rediscovery and first South African records of the parasitic copepod Cancerilla oblonga Bartsch, 1975 (Crustacea, Cancerillidae)

By

Griffiths, Charles L. (Charles Llewellyn)
Mackinnon, Rebecca B.
Landschoff, Jannes

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016-10-7

Original Publication

African invertebrates : a journal of biodiversity research

Volume

57

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

105--109

Subjects

Amphiura , brittlestar , Capensis , Copepoda , parasite , prevalence , Siphonostomatoida

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa Council of the Natal Museum 2001-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.57.9775

 

Abstract

The parasitic copepod Cancerilla oblonga, previously know only from the single holotype female collected from Luderitz Bay, Namibia, is rediscovered in Cape Town, South Africa, where it parasitises the brittlestar Amphiura capensis. The first photographic and SEM images of this species are presented and prevalence rates estimated. Of 240 hosts examined, 25 (=10.42%) were infected, of these 7.53% carried a single copepod, 2.09% two copepods and 0.84% three copepods. This discovery is the first record of any siphonostomatoid copepod infecting an invertebrate host in South Africa.