Nerocila sundaica Bleeker, 1857

Ravichandran, S., Vigneshwaran, P. & Rameshkumar, G., 2019, A taxonomic review of the fish parasitic isopod family Cymothoidae Leach, 1818 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Cymothooidea) of India, Zootaxa 4622 (1), pp. 1-99 : 61

Nerocila sundaica Bleeker, 1857

( Fig. 13 a–c)

Restricted synonymy: Nerocila Sundaica — Bowman, 1978: 33–44, figs 1–7 .— Bruce, 1987b: 406.— Bruce, 1988: 598.— Trilles, Ravichandran & Rameshkumar 2011: 453.— Trilles, Rameshkumar & Ravichandran, 2013: 1273–1286, fig. 2j.—Rameshkumar, Ramesh, Ravichandran & Trilles, 2014c: 940–944, fig. 1i. —Rameshkumar, Ramesh, Ravichandran, Trilles & Shobana, 2015: 789–792, figs 1, 2..— Rameshkumar, Ramesh, Ravichandran & Trilles, 2016: 968–970, fig. 3.

Type and type locality. The syntype, held at Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, ( RMNH n. 12) from the Indian Ocean.

Material examined. 4 ovig. females (22–26 mm), Nagappatinam, 8 January 2011 and 1 April 2011, from Ilisha melastoma , coll. G. Rameshkumar ( CAS / MBRM 670–673); 1 ovig. female (24 mm), Pazhaiyar, 28 December 2016, from Otolithes ruber , coll. S. Ravichandran ( ZSI / MBRC D1-547); 2 ovig. females (23, 25 mm) from Terapon puta Cuvier, 1829 , 3 non ovig. females (23–26 mm) from Selaroides leptolepis, Mandapam , 18 January 2016, coll. P. Vigneshwaran ( CAS / MBRM 675–677), all collected from the southeastern coast of India.

Remarks. Nerocila sundaica has a cephalon anterior margin produced narrowly rounded or with an indistinct medial point. The posterolateral corners of pereonite 7 are usually produced backward into a pointed process, reaching as far as the anterior margin of pleonite 5. The exopod of the uropod is tilted inward so that its full width is not seen in dorsal view. Endopod reaching or extending scarcely beyond the posterior margin of pleotelson. Bowman (1978), redescribed in great detail of this species, this is one of the most common Indo–Pacific species of Nerocila , but has only been recorded from the northem Indian and Pacific oceans.

Colour. Ivory white to pale brown in alcohol.

Size. Ovig. females 20–26 mm; non ovig. females 20–26 mm.

Distribution. This isopod has a wide distribution that includes the South China Sea and the Java Sea in the Pacific Ocean ( Bowman 1978), and the northern Indian Ocean including the Bay of Bengal ( Trilles et al. 2013), Arabian Sea (Chidambaram & Menon 1945), and the Persian Gulf ( Bowman 1978).

Host. In most instances the hosts are unknown, but Chidambaram & Menon (1945) reported from 6 different species of fishes Engraulis mystax (as Thryssa mystax ), Otolithus ruber , Serranus sp., Pellona indica , Therapon jarbua and Sardinella fimbriata (Valenciennes, 1847) on the west coast of India. Most recently Trilles et al. (2013) recorded from a different host of fishes Carangoides Malabaricus , Ilisha melastoma , Otolithes ruber , Selaroides leptolepis , Terapon puta and Opisthopterus tardoore (Cuvier, 1829) and Rameshkumar et al. (2016) recorted from Pomadasys maculatus .

Figures

FIGURE 1. a–c, Anilocra dimidiata Bleeker, 1857, female (24 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-529); d–f, Catoessa boscii (Bleeker, 1857), female (17 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-530); g–i, Ceratothoa angulata (Richardson, 1910), female (29 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-533); j–l, Cymothoa bychowskyi Avdeev, 1979, female (27 mm), (CAS/MBRM C-87); m–o, Cymothoa eremita (Brünnich, 1783), female (29 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-532); p–r, Cymothoa frontalis Milne Edwards, 1840, female (25 mm), (CAS/MBRM C-89).

FIGURE 2. a–c, Cymothoa indica Schiöedte & Meinert, 1884, female (25 mm), (CAS/MBRM C-97); d–f, Cymothoa parupenei Avdeev, 1979, female (25 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-533); g–i, Glossobius impressus (Say, 1818) female (26.7 mm) (ZSI/MBRC D1-554); j–l, Joryma hilsae Rameshkumar et al. 2011, female (20 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-535); m–o, Joryma sawayah Bowman & Tareen, 1983, female (14 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-536); p–r, Lobothorax typus Bleeker, 1857, female (23 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-537).

FIGURE 3. a–c, Mothocya collettei Bruce, 1986, female (25 mm), (CAS/MBRM C-149); d–f, Mothocya melanosticta (Schiöedte & Meinert, 1884), female (24 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-538); g–i, Mothocya plagulophora (Haller, 1880), female (28 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-539); j–l, Mothocya renardi (Bleeker, 1857), female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-540); m–o, Nerocila arres Bowman & Tareen, 1983, female (28 mm), (CAS/MBRM 475–476); p–r, Nerocila depressa Milne Edwards, 1840, female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-541).

FIGURE 4. Mothocya plagulophora (Haller, 1880), female (28 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-539). a, dorsal view; b, lateral view; c, mouthpart with antennula and antenna; d, antennula; e, antenna; f, mandible; g, maxillula; h, maxilliped; i, maxilla.

FIGURE 5. Mothocya plagulophora (Haller, 1880), a, male (13 mm) (CAS/MBRM C-167) dorsal view; b–m, female (28 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-539); b–f, pereopod 1, 2, 4, 6 & 7; g–k, pleopods 1–5; l, uropod; m, brood pouch.

FIGURE 6. Nerocila depressa Milne Edwards, 1840, female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-541). a, dorsal view; b, lateral view; c, forns; d, antennula; e, antenna; f, mandible; g, maxillula; h, maxilla; i, maxilliped.

FIGURE 7. Nerocila depressa Milne Edwards, 1840, female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-541). a–e, pereopods 1–3, 5 & 7; f–j, pleopods 1–5; k, uropod.

FIGURE 13. a–c, Nerocila sundaica Bleeker, 1857, female (24 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-547); d–f, Nerocila trichiura (Miers, 1877), female (30 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-548); g–i, Norileca indica (H. Milne Edwards, 1840), female (26 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-549); j–l, Norileca triangulata (Richardson, 1910), female (16 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-550); m–o, Ryukyua circularis (Pillai, 1954), female (13 mm), (CAS/MBRM C-227); p–r, Ryukyua globosa Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1994, female (14 mm), (ZSI/MBRC D1-552).