Glossobius auritus Bovallius, 1885

Martin, Melissa B., Bruce, Niel L. & Nowak, Barbara F., 2015, Review of the buccal-attaching fish parasite genus Glossobius Schioedte & Meinert, 1883 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothoidae), Zootaxa 3973 (2), pp. 337-350 : 344-345

Glossobius auritus Bovallius, 1885

Glossobius auritus Bovallius, 1885:12 –17, pl. 3: figs. 24–33.— Stebbing, 1893: 354, pl. 15.— Bruce & Bowman, 1989: 16, figs. 11, 12.

Ceratothoa laticauda .— Gerstaecker, 1882: 258.— Richardson, 1904: 23.— Trilles, 1973: 1252, pl. 2: figs. 12, 13.— Kurochkin, 1980: 289.

Glossobius laticauda .— Schioedte & Meinert, 1883: 309, pl. 12: figs. 10–16.— Stebbing, 1893: 354.— Van Name, 1936: 490.— Brian & Dartevelle, 1949: 181.— Trilles, 1979: 258.

Codonophilus laticauda .— Nierstrasz, 1931: 131.

Codonophdus auritus .— Nierstrasz, 1931: 132.

Glossobius laticaudus .— Avdeev, 1982b: 66.

Glossobius albinae Kononenko, 1986: 331 .

Glossobius ogawarensis Nunomura, 1994: 41 , figs. 5, 6, pl. (E–G) [new synonymy].

Ceratothoa angulata .— Ravichandran, Rameshkumar & Trilles, 2011: 232, fig. 1 (a).

Not Cymothoa laticauda Milne Edwards, 1840: 274 [nomen dubium].

Not Ceratothoa crassa Dana, 1853:753 –754, pl. 50: figs. 2a, b, b', c [nomen dubium].

Type and locality. The syntypes of Glossobius auritus Bovallius, 1885 (RMS Isopod no. 4971, 3475 and 3476) are held at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm ( SMNH), from an unknown locality ( Bruce & Bowman 1989).

Remarks. Glossobius auritus is recognised by the rhomboid-like body; minute anterolateral projections on pereonite 1; rounded or blunt rostrum; small labrum; moderate coxae size; and emarginate pleotelson posterior margin. The species differs from other species in the following characteristics: G. impressus with large bulbous lateral lobes on anterolateral margins of both pereonites 1 and 2 ( Bruce & Bowman 1989); G. anctus with a large labrum and large coxae ( Bruce & Bowman 1989); G. h em i r a m p h i and G. parexocoetii with an acute rostrum.

Dana (1853) described a dried G. crassa specimen, from an unknown host from the southwestern Pacific. Bruce & Bowman (1989) mentioned that pereopod 6, uropod and pereonite 1 morphology clearly distinguish G. crassa from G. anctus . However, Dana’s (1853) figures of the body shape, pleonites 2–5 width and length, and truncate pleotelson are in agreement with G. anctus . As it is impossible to resolve the species identity without the type specimen, which is no longer extant, Glossobius crassa is here deemed nomen dubium and removed from synonymy.

Glossobius ogawarensis Nunomura, 1994 was described from the narrowhead flying fish Cypselurus angusticeps Nichols & Breder, 1935 from the vicinity of the Bonin Islands, Ogasawara, Japan. Nunomura (1994) compared the new species only to G. hemiramphi , and distinguished it on the basis of differences in the number of antennule and antenna segments, anterior tip of cephalon, carpus length on pereopods and the broader bases of pereopods 5–7. Glossobius ogawarensis agrees well with the description of G. auritus given by Bruce & Bowman (1989), specifically the body rhomboid-like, rostrum blunt, projections on pereonite 1 minute, merus dilated on pereopods, pleotelson posterior margin emarginate and the well-developed posterior expansion of pereopods 5–7. Glossobius ogawarensis is here placed into junior synonymy with G. auritus .

Ravichandran’s et al. (2011) figure of Ceratothoa angulata ( Richardson, 1910) from the host Hyporhamphus dussumieri (Valenciennes, 1847) is a misidentification and refers to G. a u r i t u s. The sub-rhomboid body, dark coloration with black anterior becoming lighter toward posterior, pereonite 1 anterolateral margins forming two “bosses” (in reference to prominent lateral lobes) which project laterally, rostrum truncate in dorsal view, pleotelson posterior margin truncate with median emargination, and uropod curving medially with endopod slightly longer than exopod are important characteristics that define the species ( Bruce & Bowman 1989).

Distribution. Reported from the west Pacific: ( Trilles 1973; Bruce & Bowman 1989; Nunomura 1994); Atlantic ( Trilles 1973; Bruce & Bowman 1989; Kononenko 1986); Indian Ocean ( Trilles 1973; Bruce & Bowman 1989; Ravichandran et al. 2011).

Hosts. It is likely that G. a u r i t u s is a cosmopolitan species considering the number of host species it uses. This species has been reported from clearwing flyingfish Cypselurus comatus (Mitchill, 1815) (see Bruce & Bowman 1989) known from the Western Atlantic region ( Froese & Pauly 2015); Japanese flyingfish Cheilopogon agoo (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846) (see Bruce & Bowman 1989) known from the Northwest Pacific region ( Froese & Pauly 2015); Mediterranean flyingfish Cheilopogon heterurus (Rafinesque, 1810) (see Kononenko 1986) known from the eastern Atlantic region ( Froese & Pauly 2015); and Cypselurus angusticeps (see Nunomura 1994) and Hyporhamphus dussumieri (see Ravichandran et al. 2011), known from the Indo-Pacific region ( Froese & Pauly 2015).