Heterocepon globusus ( Markham, 1992 ) Boyko & Williams, 2024

Boyko, Christopher B. & Williams, Jason D., 2024, New records of bopyrid parasites (Crustacea, Isopoda, Epicaridea) of pea crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Pinnotheridae) with descriptions of two new species of Rhopalione Pérez, 1921 and a review of the genus, Zoosystema 46 (7), pp. 149-175 : 155

Heterocepon globusus ( Markham, 1992) n. comb.

Hypocepon globosus Markham 1992: 287-289 , figs 10-11. — Huang 2001: 326 [list]. — Morton 2003: 46 [list]. — Li 2003: 140 [list]. — An et al. 2009: 351 [list]. — Williams et al. 2023: 532 [list].

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Hong Kong • ovigerous holotype ♀ (4.0 mm TL), mature allotype ♂ (3.5 mm TL), from unknown branchial chamber of unspecified “ Pinnotheridae sp.”; no other locality data; examined by S. T. Ahyong; AMS P37275 .

REMARKS

An examination of the description and illustrations of Hypocepon globosus from Hong Kong (South China Sea) shows that although this species was placed in Hypocepon Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1930 , it actually belongs to Heterocepon Shiino, 1936 , a genus that Markham (1992) apparently did not consider. The female and male of Hypocepon globosus differ markedly from those of the type and only other species of Hypocepon , H. enoeensis Nierstrasz & Brender à Brandis, 1930 from Indonesia. All the generic characters for females of Heterocepon marginatum Shiino, 1936 , the type species of the genus, agree with those of Hypocepon globosus , including the overall body shape of the female, barbell-shaped pleomeres, expanded, ovate coxal plates, large frontal lamina, and structure of the pleopods. The characters of the males of Hypocepon globosus and Heterocepon marginatum , including shape of the body, splayed pleomeres, presence of ovate raised pleopods and shape of the pleotelson, are also similar. In fact, the females and males are so similar that it is possible that Hypocepon globosus and Heterocepon marginatum are synonymous, but without examination of the types of both species, such a synonymy would be premature. One possible specific difference is in the uropods of the female, which are uniramous in Heterocepon marginatum but biramous in Hypocepon globosus . For the present, we transfer Hypocepon globosus to Heterocepon as Heterocepon globosus , n. comb.