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Occurrence and redescription of Anilocra leptosoma Bleeker, 1857 (Crustacea: isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitizing the clupeid fish Tenualosa toli (Valenciennes) from the Arabian Sea, India

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Abstract

The present study reports the occurrence of Anilocra leptosoma Bleeker, 1857 parasitizing a new host fish, Tenualosa toli (Valenciennes) in India. Until now, the occurrence of Anilocra leptosoma from Indian waters was not clearly identified. In the present study, the general morphology and appendages of the female stage of this species are re-described according to live specimens collected from Indian fishes. The voucher specimens are deposited in National Zoological Collections of Zoological Survey of India (NZC-ZSI). The important characters to distinguish A. leptosoma from other species in the genus include a body less than four times as long as wide; antennule article 3 antero-distal margin weakly produced, 1.2–1.4 times as wide as long; pleonite not concealed by pereonite 7, pleonite 1 lateral margin posteriorly produced; pereopods 1–4 with three nodules on dactylus; pleotelson ovate, lateral margins converging smoothly to caudo-medial point.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the director of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for his encouragement and providing facilities to carry out the taxonomic description of the research work. The first author is greatly indebted to Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India for financial support through Post-Doctoral Fellowship (http://zsi.gov.in/App/content.aspx?link=137&nr=y). Further, we are gratefully acknowledging the effort taken by the anonymous reviewer for his/her critical reviewing of the manuscript and making valuable suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Panakkool-Thamban Aneesh or Ameri Kottarathil Helna.

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Aneesh, PT., Helna, A.K., Trilles, JP. et al. Occurrence and redescription of Anilocra leptosoma Bleeker, 1857 (Crustacea: isopoda: Cymothoidae) parasitizing the clupeid fish Tenualosa toli (Valenciennes) from the Arabian Sea, India. Mar Biodiv 49, 443–450 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0828-7

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