Vol. 45 No. 4, 2006

Two Species of Makrostrotos gen. nov. (Copepoda: Taeniacanthidae) Parasitic on the Laced Moray (Gymnothorax favagineus Bloch and Schneider) in Taiwan

Ju-shey Ho¹ and Ching-Long Lin^2,*

¹Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840-3702, USA
²Department of Aquatic Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan 600

Ju-shey Ho and Ching-Long Lin (2006) Two species of Makrostrotos gen. nov. (Copepoda: Taeniacanthidae), M. acuminatus sp. nov. and M. hamus sp. nov., were discovered parasitic on the gill filaments of the laced moray, Gymnothorax favagineus Bloch and Schneider, caught and landed at fishing ports in southern Taiwan. The new genus is characterized in having a T-shaped (instead of a Y-shaped) rostral bar, a robust, prehensile maxilla, and a whiplike maxilliped. The 2 new species of Makostrotos can be distinguished by the structure of the terminal claw on the maxilla and the armature of the 3rd expopodal segment of leg 4.

Key words: Taeniacanthidae, Copepoda, Makrostrotos, Taiwan, Marine fish.

*Correspondence: Tel: 886-5-2783065. Fax: 886-5-2783065. E-mail:cllin@mail.ncyu.edu.tw