Gorgoniscus Grygier, 1981

Boyko, Christopher B. & Williams, Jason D., 2023, Nomenclatural and taxonomic changes in parasitic isopods (Isopoda: Epicaridea) including two new families and note on the questionable association between monogeneans and bopyrids, Zootaxa 5258 (3), pp. 251-269 : 261-262

Gorgoniscus Grygier, 1981

Diagnosis (modified from Grygier (1981): Cryptoniscus larva/male body tear-drop shaped with prominent cuticular striations. Head wider than long, oral cone directed anteriorly; eyes absent. Antennule article 1 with 5 posterior teeth. Coxal plates longitudinally ridged, posterior margins smooth. Pereopods 1 and 2 gnathopodal, 3–7 ambulatory; propodi of 3–5 quadrate distally, 6 and 7 tapering distally. Pleotelson margin smooth. Mature females spheroid in dorsal view, dorsoventrally compressed with anterior and posterior ends curled ventrally; segmentation not retained, lacking appendages.

Included species: Gorgoniscus incisodactylus Grygier, 1981 (type by original designation)

Distribution: Off Makapuu Point, Oahu, Hawaii (21°18’N, 157°32’W), 366 m (type locality); known from the type locality and another 10 km off Makapuu Point ( Grygier 1981).

Host: Cirripedia: Ascothoracica: Gorgonolaureus sp. ( Grygier 1981) .

Remarks: Aside from the shape and degree of metamorphosis of the mature females which are spheroid and have no evidence of segmentation, all the characters of the cryptoniscus larva indicate that this genus should be placed in Hemioniscidae and it is herein transferred from Cryptoniscoidea incertae sedis, where it was placed by Grygier (1981).