Agarna malayi Tiwari, 1952

Kumar, Panakkool Thamban Aneesh Helna Ameri Kottarathil Appukuttannair Biju, 2022, Simultaneous double parasitism by the parasitic cymothoids (Crustacea: Isopoda) of two genera on a single host fish Tenualosa toli from India, Nauplius (e 2022013) 30, pp. 1-8 : 4-5

Agarna malayi Tiwari, 1952

( Fig. 1 B, C )

Agarna malayi Tiwari, 1952: 295–300 , pl. iv, figs. 1–2. — Bowman and Tareen, 1983: 21. — Aneesh et al., 2016: 1–8, fig. 1a–d. — Aneesh et al., 2018: 1–22 , figs. 1–14.

Indusa malayi — Pillai, 1964: 211–223, fig. 3, 7d. — Trilles, 1994: 198. — Trilles and Vala, 1975: 972.

Indusa ophueseni Pillai, 1954: 15 .

Host. Tenualosa toli ( Clupeidae ), Nematalosa nasus (Bloch, 1795) ( Clupeidae ), and Mugil ophueseni (Bleeker, 1858) (= Valamugil cunnesius (Valenciennes, 1836) ( Mugilidae ) ( Tiwari, 1952; Pillai, 1954; 1964; Aneesh et al., 2016; 2018; present study).

Distribution. Kolkata ( Tiwari, 1952), Travancore ( Pillai, 1954; present study), Kayamkulam Lake, Kerala, southwest coast of India ( Pillai, 1964; present study), Bay of Bengal and Malabar coast of Kerala, India ( Aneesh et al., 2016; 2018; present study).

Remarks. Agarna malayi was described by Tiwari (1952) based on the materials collected from N. nasus from Kolkata. Later, Pillai (1964) reported and redescribed based on the materials collected from M. ophueseni (Bleeker) off the Kerala coast. Recently the species is redescribed based on the examination of the type material and several fresh specimens collected from Kerala coast and by considering all lifecycle stages (see Aneesh et al., 2018). Agarna malayi can be well separated from other branchial cymothoids by its largely hunched body; the shape of the cephalon and pereonite 1; body strongly recurved towards one side; cephalon roughly triangular with narrow round apex, accommodated in the deeply recessed amphicephalic process of pereonite 1; the presence of many pustules on the dorsal surface of pleotelson.

Figures

Figure 1. A, Co-infestation of external attaching Anilocra grandmaae [arrow Ag (f)] and branchial attaching Agarna malayi [arrow Am (f)] infesting an individual Tenualosa toli. B, C, Ovigerous female and male of Ag. malayi, respectively. D, Ovigerous female of An. grandmaae.