Introduction
Bopyridae (Rafinesque Reference Rafinesque1815) is one of the most diverse families of parasitic isopods, being composed of 653 ectoparasitic species on decapod hosts, which generally differ in host selection, including some species that infest symbiotic hosts (Boyko et al. Reference Boyko, Bruce, Hadfield, Merrin, Ota and Poore2025a, Reference Boyko, Moss, Williams and Shields2013; Williams et al. Reference Williams, Boyko and White2012). Among the nine bopyrid subfamilies, Bopyrinae (Rafinesque Reference Rafinesque1815) contains 27 genera and 128 species of branchial parasites of caridean shrimps (An et al. Reference An, Boyko and Li2015; Boyko et al. Reference Boyko, Bruce, Hadfield, Merrin, Ota and Poore2025b). The genus Ovobopyrus Markham, 1985 is monotypic and represented only by Ovobopyrus alphezemiotes Markham, 1985, which was found attached to the gills in the branchial chamber of Alpheus armillatus H. Milne Edwards, 1837 collected in west of Egmont Key Island (27°37ʹN 83°28ʹW), Florida, Gulf of Mexico (Markham Reference Markham1985).
Studies with bopyrid fauna in Brazil are scarce. To date, 30 species of Bopyridae are recorded from Brazil, 12 of which are endemic of the country (Horch et al. Reference Horch, Williams and Terossi2024; Ribeiro and Horch Reference Ribeiro and Horch2023). Here, we describe a new species of Ovobopyrus parasitizing the female shrimp Alpheus carlae Anker, 2012 in Brazil. It is one of two species of the genus that occurs in the world, the first in South America and the twelfth record of the subfamily Bopyrinae from Brazil. A comparative table, an identification key, and a distribution map are also provided below about the species of genus Ovobopyrus.
Material and methods
Host (shrimp) and parasite (type bopyrid) specimens are deposited in the Crustacean Collection of the Museum of Oceanography Prof. Petrônio Alves Coelho of Federal University of Pernambuco (MOUFPE). Some appendages of the female parasite were dissected. The oostegite 1, the maxilliped, and the pereopods 1 and 7 were stained with clorazol black and mounted on semi-permanent slides with glycerin jelly (Crookham and Dapson Reference Crookham and Dapson1991). The specimen was measured for total length (TL), i.e. from the anterior margin of the head to the posterior margin of the pleotelson, maximal width at the broadest pereomere, head length and width, and pleon length. The male parasite was partly dissected, and the antennae and pereopods 1 and 7 were mounted on semi-permanent slides. It was measured for TL, maximal width at the broadest pereomere, head length and width, and pleon length and width. During the processing of the material, the male specimen was lost; however, the slide remains available. The shrimp host was measured for carapace length, i.e. from the posterior margin of the ocular orbit to the posterior margin of the carapace. The terminology of genus follows Markham (Reference Markham1985), and the taxonomic classification follows An et al. (Reference An, Yin, Chen, Boyko and Liu2023). Photos were taken with a ZEISS stereomicroscope. Drawings and measurements of parasites were produced with the aid of a camera lucida fitted on a stereomicroscope (Leica DME), followed by editing with CorelDRAW. Mapping of the parasite species distribution was created with the QGIS program (Geographic Information System; http://www.qgis.org). The identification keys were based on original descriptions of adult females belonging to the bopyrine genera recorded in Brazil and the new species of Ovobopyrus. References are provided for the taxonomic authorities of all parasitic taxa, but not for those of hosts.
Results
Taxonomy
Order Isopoda Latreille, Reference Latreille and Cuvier1816
Suborder Epicaridea Latreille, Reference Latreille and Baillière1825
Superfamily Bopyroidea Rafinesque, 1815
Family Bopyridae Rafinesque, 1815
Subfamily Bopyrinae Rafinesque, 1815
Genus Ovobopyrus Markham, 1985
Type-species: O. alphezemiotes Markham, 1985 (by original designation). Gender masculine.
Amended diagnosis (from Markham 1985; characters modified in bold)
Female: Head separated from pereon laterally but fused posteriorly; with or without two large lobes on posterior half of dorsal surface; reflexed frontal lamina complete across front but not extending to sides. Eyes absent; maxilliped with irregularly shaped, non-articulating palp with or without setae; barbula with single, short, unornamented, flap-like lateral projection at each side. Long sides of pereomeres 1–4 with prominent coxal plates, dorsolateral bosses, and tergal projections; short sides of same pereomeres with only inconspicuous coxal plates, tergal projections, and with or without thin dorsolateral bosses. Pleon with six distinct pleomeres, all separated by large lateral notches; five pairs of flap-like biramous pleopods; no uropods.
Male: Approximately twice as long as wide, with irregularly subparallel sides. Head abruptly narrower than pereon, fused medially with first pereomere. Pereopods are large relative to body size. Pleon completely fused; five pairs of discoid sessile pleopods and anal cone present.
Hosts: Caridean shrimps of the genus Alpheus Fabricius, 1798
Remarks
The diagnosis of the genus was expanded to include the new species, Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov., described herein.
Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov. (Figures 1–6)
LSIDurn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:107906DF-8B75-4E58-83CD-1E41A91BCCDA
Type material. Holotype: female (4.83 mm TL), muddy flat intertidal zone, Suape, Pernambuco, 27/IX/2019 (MOUFPE 22035), infesting female A. carlae Anker, 2012 (6.60 mm CC) (MOUFPE 22037).
Paratype: male (1.59 mm TL), muddy flat intertidal zone, Suape, Pernambuco, 27/IX/2019 (MOUFPE 22036), infesting the same host as holotype.
Etymology. Named based on the expression ‘odoyá’, a traditional greeting to Iemanjá, the queen of the waters, of the African-Brazilian religions, derived from the Yoruba language.
Diagnosis based on an adult female. Head produced into small anterolateral projections: antennule with three articles; maxilliped subquadratic with non-articulated palp bearing nine long setae; oostegite 1 has a digitate ridge with five small lobes; carpi of pereopods with tufts of setae distally; terminal pleomere bilobed.
Description. Female holotype (Figures 1–3): TL 4.83 mm, maximal width 3.79 mm, distortion angle 50°, dextral, head length 1.29 mm, head width 1.38 mm, pleon length 1.67 mm. Body outline suboval, longer than wide, broadest at pereomere 3. No apparent pigmentation.
Head subquadratic and wider than long, deeply set into first pereomere, fused with it posteriorly but not laterally, and produced into small anterolateral projections (Figures 1a, 2a). Frontal lamina reflexed across the front but not extending to the sides. Eyes absent (Figures 1a, and 2a). Antennule (Figure 2c) with three articles each, the distal one being very small with six short, simple setae distally. Antennae (Figure 2d) with two articles each, distal one smaller with 10 short and simple setae distally. Maxilliped (Figure 3b) subquadratic with two articles; anterior article with crenulate outer distal margin; non-articulated palp, with nine setae inserted near inner laterodistal margin; spur long and blunt with four small, simple setae distally. Barbula (Figure 2e) with a single, broad, smooth, flap-like lateral projection at each side, margin straight medially.
Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov., female holotype 4.83 mm (MOUFPE 22035): (a) dorsal view; (b) ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.
Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov., female holotype 4.83 mm (MOUFPE 22035): (a) habitus dorsal; (b) habitus ventral; (c) right antennule; (d) right antenna; (e) barbula; (f) pleon. Scale bars: 0.05 mm.
Pereon with seven pereomeres distinctly separated, broadest at pereomere 3; pereomeres 1–4 with prominent, elongated coxal plates, slender dorsolateral bosses, and moderately extended tergal projections along the long side of body. On the short side, reduced coxal plates on all pereomeres contain short tergal projections and thin dorsolateral bosses on the first four pereomeres (Figures 1a, 2a). Oostegites surrounding but not enclosing brood pouch (Figures 1b, 2b); Oostegite 1 (Figure 3a) as wide as long, subtriangular in shape; posterolateral point broad and setose, extending straight back; digitate ridge with five small lobes; oostegites 2–5 progressively longer with oostegite 5 more than four times as long as wide, with long simple setae posteriorly. Pereopods (Figures 3c,d) are relatively small, posterior pairs slightly larger and with smaller dactyli; carpi with tufts of setae distally; meri with scales on the external margin.
Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov., female holotype 4.83 mm (MOUFPE 22035): (a) left oostegite; (b) left maxilliped; (c) right pereopod 1; (d) right pereopod 7. Scale bars: (a, b) 0.5 mm; (c, d) 0.1 mm.
Pleon contains six distinct pleomeres. Lateral plates absent; pleomeres deeply separated by lateral notches. Five pairs of flap-like, biramous pleopods extending out from the ventral surface of pleon, partially covering it; exopodites subcircular and larger than respective endopodites (Figure 2f). Uropods absent; terminal pleomere bilobed with midposterior notch (Figures 1, 2a,b,f).
Paratype male (Figures 4, 5): TL 1.59 mm, maximal width 0.69 mm, head length 0.12 mm, head width 0.42 mm, pleon width 0.70 mm, pleon length 0.39 mm. Body with sides irregularly subparallel, tapering slightly anteriorly, head abruptly narrower than pereon, broadest at pereomere 4.
Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov., male paratype, 1.59 mm: (a) habitus dorsal; (b) habitus ventral. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.
Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov., male paratype, 1.59 mm (MOUFPE 22036): (a) right antennule; (b) right antenna; (c) right pereopod 1; (d) right pereopod 7. Scale bars: 0.1 mm.
Head nearly rectangular, almost straight anteriorly, separated from much broader first pereomere at posterolateral corners, fused medially (Figure 4a). Eyes small laterally placed (Figure 4a). Antennule (Figure 5a) with three articles, decreasing in size, distal and middle articles with four simple setae each; antenna 2 (Figure 5b) with three articles, middle article longer and distal article narrower, with four simple setae on distal article.
Pereomeres distinct dorsally and laterally, obscurely separated ventrally, varying in width with 3 and 4 being wider (Figures 4a,b). Pereopods (Figures 5c,d) large, slightly increasing posteriorly, setae on carpi and propodi; carpi and meri not distinctly separated, with scales. Pleon fully fused, sinuous margins (Figures 5a,b). Five uniramous pleopod pairs, discoid to subrectangular, decreasing posteriorly. Pleon extends beyond body margin; conspicuous ventral anal cone (Figure 4b).
Type locality. Rio Massangana (8°21ʹ31.45″S 34°57ʹ42.91″W), Suape, Pernambuco, Brazil (Figure 6).
Distribution map of Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov. in northeastern Brazil.
Distribution. This species has so far only been recorded for the southwestern Atlantic, off the coast of Pernambuco in Brazil (Figure 6).
Remarks. The characters of Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov. overall match those proposed by Markham (Reference Markham1985) in the original description of the genus Ovobopyrus such as the body outline smoothly oval, not abruptly narrowing; the head is separated from pereon laterally, but fused posteriorly; barbula with single, broad, flap-like lateral projection at each side; and the non-articulating maxilliped palp. This genus currently has only one described species, O. alphezemiotes Markham, Reference Markham1985, infesting Alpheus armillatus H. Milne Edwards, 1837, collected from Florida. The female of Ovobopyrus odoya sp. nov. is similar to O. alphezemiotes in having the body outline suboval, longer than wide, broadest at pereomere 3, barbula with flap-like lateral projection at each side. However, the two species differ mainly in the distortion angle, the two large lobes on the posterior half of the head’s dorsal surface and oostegite 1 posterolateral point inner ridge digitated (Table 1). A detailed comparison of O. odoya sp. nov. and O. alphezemiotes can be found in Table 1.
Comparison of taxonomically important morphological characters for females and males of the species of Ovobopyrus
Discussion
The subfamily Bopyrinae is composed of 27 genera, with 11 of them being monotypic: Allobopyrus Bourdon, Reference Bourdon1983, Discorsobopyrus Boyko, Reference Boyko2004, Litobopyrus Markham, Reference Markham, Morton and Tseng1982, Ogyridione Markham, Reference Markham1988, Palaemonellione Markham, Reference Markham1989, Parabopyriscus Markham, Reference Markham1985, Parabopyrus Shiino, Reference Shiino1934, Probopyrione Bourdon, Reference Bourdon1983, Probopyriscus Markham, Reference Markham, Morton and Tseng1982, Septembopyrina An et al., Reference An, Boyko and Li2015, and Urobopyrus Richardson, Reference Richardson1904 (Boyko et al. Reference Boyko, Bruce, Hadfield, Merrin, Ota and Poore2025b). The discovery of a second species of the genus Ovobopyrus represents how the diversity of this group is apparently overlooked, and still remains a challenge in areas like the Brazilian coast, in which there are few researchers working on parasitic isopods. Because new species, new localities, and host records of bopyrids are being discovered in Brazil (Horch et al. Reference Horch, Williams and Terossi2024; Ribeiro and Horch Reference Ribeiro and Horch2023), further investigation is needed in terms of sampling, documentation, and descriptions to better understand the diversity and phylogenetic relationships within the subfamily Bopyrinae.
Most bopyrid species have relatively narrow host specificity, being exclusive to one or two families (e.g. Alpheidae and Hippolytidae) or genera (e.g. Alpheus and Synalpheus). In the case of Ovobopyrus, both O. alphezemiotes and O. odoya sp. nov. parasitize only shrimps of the genus Alpheus, reinforcing the hypothesis of a specific choice of definitive host for some groups.
Key for Bopyrinae genera from Brazil (based on adult females)
Key to species of Ovobopyrus (based on adult females)
Acknowledgements
This study was part of the Master’s dissertation of E. P. Modesto in the graduation program in Oceanography at University Federal of Pernambuco. The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alexandre Oliveira de Almeida for the donation and identification of the shrimp infested by the bopyrid and the donation of bopyrid material deposited in the Crustacean Collection of the Museum of Oceanography Prof. Petrônio Alves Coelho of University Federal of Pernambuco (MOUFPE). The authors would like the MSc. Juliano Gomes de Souza for his help in drawing up the map. We also thank the professors Dr. Paula Beatriz Araujo and Dr. Cristiana Silveira Serejo for comments on the thesis and the anonymous reviewers for the comments in this manuscript.
Author contributions
E.P.M.: conceptualization, identification of specimens, preparation and editing of the original draft. F.B.R.: conceptualization, revision and editing of the original draft. J.F.S.-F.: identification and revision. All authors reviewed and accepted the latest version of the manuscript.
Funding
We would like to thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the project Taxonomia de Amphipoda, Cumacea e Tanaidacea (Crustacea, Peracarida) (PROTAX Proc. 441860/2020-6) to J.F.S.-F. and the Master fellowship supplied to E.P.M. (Proc. 131078/2022-4), and for the project Biodiversidade brasileira em evidência: crustáceos decápodes como eixo estrutural na composição de rede integrada no bioma costeiro marinho (PPBio 2023 – 07/2023 – Linha 8: Rede Costeira Marinha – Proc. 442421/2023-0) for additional support. Thanks is also given to Programa de Apoio aos Novos Docentes USP – 2022/2023 granted to F.B.R. (Proc. No. 2022.1.1254.59.0).
Competing interests
The authors declare none.
Data availability
The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
