The first occurrence of a parasitic copepod, Xarifia anopla Humes and Dojiri 1982 (Copepoda: Xarifiidae), from two species of Montipora coral of Taiwan

Yu Rong Cheng

《臺灣水產學會刊》 45卷1期 (2018/03) Pp. 43-47

https://doi.org/10.29822/JFST.201803_45(1).0005

摘要

Several coral fragments of two reef-building corals, Montipora venosa (Ehrenberg, 1834) and Montipora efflorescens Bernard, 1897, were collected for examining coral-associated copepods from off Taiwan water. A species of endo-parasitic copepods, Xarifia anopla Humes & Dojiri 1982, was found and re-described. It can be readily distinguished from its congeners by absence of leg 5 and its caudal ramus almost fused with anal segment in female. Besides, our specimens showed a difference to the original description of this species collected from different coral hosts (Montipora undata Bernard, 1897 and Montipora aequituberculata Bernard, 1897) and localities (Madagascar, Great Barrier Reef, and Moluccas): final segment of antenna in male only bearing 1 seta and 1 claw. This is the first study to conduct a survey of coral-associated copepods from Montipora corals of Taiwan and also the first study to demonstrate that the coral family, Acroporidae Verrill, 1902, also serve as host to xarifiid copepod in Taiwan. Our findings stretch the northern limit of this species to the western Northern Pacific and suggest the plasticity of X. anopla from various coral hosts and localities. This paper also gives a complete redescription of X. anopla based on the newly collected specimens from Taiwan.

關鍵字

coral-associated copepods ； endoparasite ； scleractinian corals ； Montipora ； Taiwan