The systematics of some New Zealand parasitic Copepoda of the family Caligidae

Abstract

Parasitic Copepoda of the Family Caligidae, taken from New Zealand marine fishes and numbering 450 specimens, belong to nine species. Three are members of the genus Caligus Miller; of these, two are new species and the third, Caligus pelamydis Kroyer, 1863, is a new record for the New Zealand region. The remaining six are species of the genus Lepeophtheirus Nordmann and are all new to science with the exception of Lepeophtheirus erecsoni Thomson, 1890; badly damaged specimens of the latter were examined and noted. Three postchalimus stages of a new species of Lepeophtheirus taken from Polyprion oxygeneios (Block and Schneider, 1801) and P. americanus(Bloch and Schneider, 1801) are recorded and discussed, and an account given of the stage at which fertilisation takes place is given; the number of specimens taken makes it likely that the latter host is the more heavily infected. A new species of Caligus and a new species of Lepeophtheirus were taken together from the fishes Pseuolabrus miles Bloch and Schneider, 1913, P. pittensis Waite, 1910 and P celidotus (Forster, 1801), the number of specimens taken from each indicating that the last is rather lightly infected. The Suborder Caligoida, Family Caligidae and the genera Caligus and Lepeophtheirus, are redefined. A discussion of the systematic characters used within the family Caligidae is presented; these are shown to be unsuitable in some cases, but the author considers that he has too few species available to him to attempt a revision.