Parabopyrella lata

Romero Rodríguez, Jesús & Álvarez, Fernando, 2021, New hosts and distribution records for bopyrid isopods parasitising alpheid shrimps (Decapoda, Alpheidae) in the SW Gulf of Mexico and Mexican Caribbean, Journal of Natural History 54 (35 - 36), pp. 2219-2248 : 2232-2234

Parabopyrella lata (Nierstraz and Brender à Brandis, 1929)

Figures 1 (c), 6; Tables 1, 2

Bopyrella lata Nierstrasz and Brender à Brandis, 1929: 34 , 35, fig. 43 [type locality: between St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and Saba, Netherlands Antilles, parasitising unidentified alpheid]. – Chopra, 1930: 137, 138. – Danforth, 1963: 7. – Lemos de Castro, 1965: 283–286, figs. 6–13 [Bahía de Guanabara, Brazil, parasitising Alpheus sp. ; and Ilha de Sebastião, São Paulo, Brazil, parasitising Upogebia affinis (questionable host record)]. – Danforth, 1970: 9, 43, 60, 151, fig. 6d. – Markham, 1974: 193, 194, 316, 321–323. – Bourdon, 1980: 187 in key, 199–201, fig. 6 [re-examination of holotype]. – Westinga and Hoetjes, 1981: 141 table 1.

Parabopyrella lata . – Markham, 1985: 68–71, figs. 29, 30 [ Card Sound and Looe Key Reef, Florida, U.S.A., parasitising A. normanni ] . – Markham, 1988: 57 table 1. – Kensley and Schotte, 1989: 112 table 2. – Brasil-Lima, 1998: 639. – Camp et al. 1998: 133. – Boyko 2006: 41–43, fig. 1 [ Palmeto Key , Florida, U.S.A., parasitising Lysmata boggessi ] . – An et al. 2015: 47–48, 61 in key. – Briggs et al. 2017: 653 , 659, 660, 655 table 1 [Florida Bay , Florida, U.S.A., parasitising Alpheus sp. ]. – Baeza et al. 2018: 1–11 [off Homosassa Spring , west coast of Florida, U.S.A., parasitising L. boggessi ]. – Romero-Rodríguez and Martínez-Mayén, 2018: 1183. – Ribeiro et al. 2019: 2438–2440, fig. 1 [ Praia do Pacheco , Ceará, Brazil, parasitising A. packardii ] .

Material examined

One ovigerous female ( CNCR 34974 ) parasitising one male of Alpheus normanni Kingsley, 1878 ( CNCR 30435 ), B . Martínez-Guerrero det . host; Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico (20º50 ʹ 50.9”N 86º52 ʹ 30.0”W); V . Monroy coll .; 14 May 2014.

Distribution

Southeast Florida, U.S.A., through the US Virgin Islands to Brazil ( Markham 1985).

Remarks

The characteristics of the female examined matched those reported for P. lata ( Nierstrasz and Brender à Brandis,1929; Bourdon, 1980; Markham, 1985), although some variation was observed. The barbula has two lateral projections on each side, as was noted by Bourdon (1980, as Bopyrella lata ) and Markham (1985), but the internal one of the right side is barely a tiny bulge and the medial margin of the barbula is straight ( Figure 6 (a)), similar to that reported by Bourdon (1980) but differs of the medial margin with slight notch observed by Markham (1985). The pereomeres 1–4 of the female examined have conspicuous dorsolateral bosses and coxal plates on both side of the body, which agrees with previous reports ( Nierstrasz and Brender À Brandis 1929; Bourdon 1980), however they are less developed on the shorter side of body ( Figure 1 (c)). The shape of the first pair of oostegites ( Figure 6 (b)) is as those described and illustrated by Bourdon (1980, Figure 6 (b,c)) and Markham (1985, Figure 29(g,h)) but the posterolateral projection is rounded, similar to that reported by Ribeiro et al. (2019), and the smooth internal ridge seen in our specimen differs from the internal ridge slightly ornamented observed by both authors ( Figure 6 (c)). The pleon is shorter and thinner than the pereion, the pleomeres have rounded margins and are separated laterally by broad notches on both side of body ( Figure 1 (c)); these characteristics agree with previous reports ( Nierstrasz and Brender À Brandis 1929; Bourdon 1980; Markham 1985). The dorsal separation of the pleomeres of P. lata is unclear, Bourdon (1980) noted the complete fusion of the six pleomeres and Markham (1985, Figure 29) and Ribeiro et al. (2019, Figure 1 ) illustrated all six pleomeres distinct dorsally. The pleomeres 1–3 of the female examined are not fused dorsally but the posterior ones are visibly fused ( Figure 1 (c)), resembling those illustrated by Nierstrasz and Brender À Brandis (1929, Figure 43).

The female examined of P. lata was nearly detached from the left branchial chamber of a male shrimp of 4.50 mm CL, this may explain the absence of the male parasite and the evident embryo loss registered. The measurements of the bopyrid female are presented in Table 1 and the average size and volume of their embryos are indicated in Table 2.

Boyko (2006) recognised P. lata as an exclusive parasite of A. normanni , and considered as accidental its presence on Lysmata boggesi . However, Baeza et al. (2018) confirmed L. boggesi as host of P. lata in the west coast of Florida. In Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, Lemos de Castro (1965) reported P. lata parasitising Alpheus sp. and Upogebia affinis ( Say, 1818) but the latter host was discarded as no bopyrid species is known to parasitise hosts of different crustacean infraorders ( Markham 1985; Boyko 2006). Recently, Ribeiro et al. (2019) reported P. lata parasitising Alpheus packardii Kingsley, 1880 from Ceará, Brazil. Although P. lata has a wide distribution along the Western Atlantic this is the first record from Mexican waters.

Figures

Figure 1. Bopyrid females parasitising Alpheus and Synalpheus shrimps at the SW Gulf of Mexico and Mexican Caribbean. a) Bopyrella harmopleon Bowman, 1956, YUC-CC-255-11-006553; b) Bopyrione synalphei Bourdon and Markham, 1980, YUC-CC-255-11-006555; c) Capitetragonia alphei (Richardson, 1900), CNCR 34973; d) Parabopyrella lata (Nierstraz and Brender à Brandis, 1929), CNCR 34974; e) Parabopyrella mortenseni (Nierstraz and Brender à Brandis, 1929), CNCR 34975; f) Eophrixus subcaudalis (Hay, 1917), CNCR 5254. Scale bar = 1.0 mm.

Figure 6. Parabopyrella lata (Nierstraz and Brender à Brandis, 1929), CNCR 34974. a) barbula; b) first oostegite, external view; c) first oostegite, internal view. Scale bar = 0.5 mm.