Caligus randalli Lewis, 1964

Soler-Jimenez, Lilia C., Morales-Serna, F. Neptali, Aguirre-Macedo, Ma. Leopoldina, McLaughlin, John P., Jaramillo, Alejandra G., Shaw, Jenny C., James, Anna K., Hechinger, Ryan F., Kuris, Armand M., Lafferty, Kevin D. & Vidal-Martinez, Victor M., 2019, Parasitic copepods (Crustacea, Hexanauplia) on fishes from the lagoon flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific, ZooKeys 833, pp. 85-106 : 85

Caligus randalli Lewis, 1964

Type host.

Acanthurus triostegus (Linnaeus) ( Acanthuridae ).

Other host and localities.

To our knowledge, C. randalli has not been recorded since its original description ( Lewis 1964a). Acanthurus triostegus ( Acanthuridae ) from Hawaii ( Lewis 1964a, Palm and Bray 2014).

Current host.

Caranx ignobilis ( Carangidae ).

Site of infection.

Gills.

Prevalence and mean intensity.

25 and 1 (n = 4).

Specimens deposited.

CHCM No. 569 (voucher) (1 vial, 2 specimens ♂♀). USNM No. 1550602 (voucher) (1 vial, 1 specimen ♂).

Remarks.

Lewis (1964a) observed that Caligus randalli is morphologically close to C. constrictus Heller, 1865. According to this author, one of the main differences between both species is the length of the urosome. The urosome of C. randalli is one and a half times the length of the urosome of C. constrictus . In the present study, we noted that C. randalli resembles Caligus aesopus Wilson, 1921. However, the urosome in C. aesopus is shorter than in C. randalli . Hayes et al. (2012) included C. aesopus and another nine species of Caligus ( C. chorinemy Kroyer, 1863, C. tenax Heller, 1865, C. spinosurculus Pearse, 1951, C. germoi Pearse, 1951, C. rectus Pearse, 1952, C. confusus , C. cordyla Pillai, 1963, C. zylanica Hameed & Pillai, 1986 and C. equulae Ho & Lin, 2003) within a cluster of caligid species sharing the following characteristics in the female: bifid postantennal process; bifid posterior process on the maxillule; heavily ornamented apron of the third leg; an inner rosette of large spinules and prominent rib-like structure with a bifid apex, arising near the border with the intercoxal sclerite of leg 3: a massive and strongly incurved spine on the first exopodal segment of leg 3; and a 3-segmented exopod on leg 4 armed with I,I,III spines. Caligus randalli also shares these characteristics, and after a detailed examination. We confirmed that the morphological characteristic of our specimens fit with the description Lewis (1964a) for C. randalli . This is also supported by records of C. randalli in the Central Pacific.