Taeniacanthus aluteri (Avdeev, 1977)

Tang, Danny, Uyeno, Daisuke & Nagasawa, Kazuya, 2011, Parasitic copepods of the family Taeniacanthidae (Crustacea) from triggerfishes (Teleostei, Balistidae) and filefishes (Teleostei, Monacanthidae) collected in the Indo-West Pacific region, with descriptions of two new species of Taeniacanthus Sumpf, 1871, Zootaxa 3103, pp. 33-56 : 43

Taeniacanthus aluteri (Avdeev, 1977)

Anchistrotos aluteri Avdeev 1977: 132 .

Taeniacanthus aluteri: Dojiri & Cressey 1987: 16 ; Ho & Lin 2007: 153.

Material examined. 4 Ƥ ( CAS 175507), ex 1 Abalistes stellaris (Bloch & Schneider) ( CAS 40834), Bangkok, Thailand, 15 February 1960; 1 Ƥ ( CAS 175472), ex A. stellaris ( CAS 40840), Philippines, 5 April 1978; 34 Ƥ and 1 copepodid V Ƥ (NSMT-Cr 21658), ex 1 Abalistes stellatus (Anonymous) , Songkhla, Thailand, 27 July 2008; 24 Ƥ (NSMT-Cr 21659), ex 1 A. stellatus , Sulu Sea, Iloilo, Panay Island, Philippines, 26 September 2003; 6 Ƥ (2 damaged) ( CAS 175275 and 175283), ex 2 A. stellatus ( CAS 34014), Madras, India, April 1975; 1 Ƥ (AM P69684), ex A. stellatus (I 22806-013), Northwest Shelf, Western Australia, Australia, 1 April 1982; 1 Ƥ ( MAGNT Cr014941), ex A. stellatus ( MAGNT S.13326-005), W. Shepparton Shoal, Timor Sea, 6 December 1990.

Attachment site. Branchial cavity wall.

Remarks. This species was originally placed in Anchistrotos by Avdeev (1977) for female specimens presumably collected from a monacanthid species named “ Alutera seriola ” in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia (see Discussion section below for further details on the binomen of the type host). Dojiri & Cressey (1987) subsequently transferred this species into Taeniacanthus based on a redescription of samples removed from Abalistes stellatus [(Lacepède)] collected from the Philippines.

The specimens collected in this study are identical to the description of T. aluteri provided by Dojiri & Cressey (1987) and Ho & Lin (2007). This species can be distinguished from all other congeners infecting tetraodontiform fishes by the possession of numerous rows of spinules on both pectinate processes of the antenna and a flagellum on the distal end of each exopodal spine of legs 2–4.