Pennella elegans Gnanamuthu, 1957

Hogans, W. E., 2017, Review of Pennella Oken, 1816 (Copepoda: Pennellidae) with a description of Pennella benzi sp. nov., a parasite of Escolar, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Pisces) in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, Zootaxa 4244 (1), pp. 1-38 : 17

Pennella elegans Gnanamuthu, 1957

( Fig. 8 )

Synonyms. None

Type host and locality. Cypselurus sp., Indian Ocean

Morphology. Size: 35 mm. Papillae: partial coverage, clavate, a few spherical, unorganized arrangement. Holdfasts: two only, short. First antenna (no information), second with three segments. Plumes: simple, single or double.

Remarks. Species inquirendae. Hogans (1988a) considered P. elegans as species inquirendae based on a lack of type material. The original description, though brief, portrays the species as exhibiting a unique cephalothoracic shape and papillae configuration ( Fig. 8 b). Pennella elegans is a small species originally described from a single female without egg strings. The only other record of P. elegans (from the same host and locality as the original record) is by Kannapuandi (1976) who described the cuticular adaptations in various structures of the parasite, but did not further elaborate on its morphology.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Pennella elegans, a. entire parasite; b. cephalothorax, ventral; c. cephalothorax, dorsal; d. abdomen and plumes; e. second antennae, dorsal (from Gnanamuthu, 1957). Scale bars: a = 5.0 mm; b, c = 2.0 mm; d = 0.02 mm; e = 0.1 mm.