We expect to see these very highly modified copepods as conspicuous
parasites on the larger polychaetes only, although, as illustrated by a paper
I couldn't possibly identify to the list - you'll know it or you won't - not
everyone realises what they are if there are no limbs left.
However, they can be small and occur on quite small animals, including
Spiophanes spp. spionids. The paper below is the stem paper for the 1999
O'Reilly new record of Spiophanicola spinosus listed in Aaron Baldwin's last
message.
Ho, Ju-shey 1984. New family of poecilostomatoid copepods
(Spiophanicolidae) parasitic on polychaetes from southern California, with
a phylogenetic analysis of nereicoliform families. - Journal of Crustacean
Biology, 4(1):134-146
PS: Can anyone tell me what polychaete Stock (1988, Tropical Zoology
1(2):217-222) found Octophiophora lacertae on? A serpulid? I don't have
the journal.
--
Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.cri.nz>
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