Examination of functional morphology of dajiid isopods usingArthrophryxussp. parasitising a mysid shrimp as an example

Nagler, Christina; Eiler, Stefan M. und Haug, Joachim T. (2020): Examination of functional morphology of dajiid isopods usingArthrophryxussp. parasitising a mysid shrimp as an example. In: Acta Zoologica, Bd. 101, Nr. 4: S. 339-352

Abstract

Parasitic isopods have become specialised to many different host species and therefore show a wide variety of attachment and feeding specialisations. Often such structures are difficult to examine due to their small sizes which makes a more complete understanding of their functional morphology difficult. Here we present a new report and a first time high-resolution, non-SEM documentation of a parasitic epicaridean isopod, a female of the dajiidArthrophryxussp. from the Sea of Okhotsk. It was found during the SokhoBio 2015 on its host, a mysid shrimp (Holmsiellasp.).Arthrophryxushas only one formally described species,Arthrophryxus beringanusRichardson, 1908. With high-resolution documentation methods, we reveal new details of the morphological structures of mouthparts and thoracopods of this dajiid. Furthermore, we discuss the functional morphology of attachment to the host and feeding according to our new findings. We suggest that the thoracopods are involved in the attachment process even more than formerly assumed for different dajiids. The piercing-sucking mouthparts and the additional attachment mechanisms strongly indicate a permanent parasitism of the dajiid isopod. Permanent parasites affect the fitness of their hosts;therefore, deep-sea forms of dajiid isopods have direct impact on the deep-sea crustacean communities.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Biologie > Department Biologie II
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
• ISSN: 0001-7272
• Sprache: Englisch