Description and ontogeny of a 40-million-year-old parasitic isopodan crustacean: gen. et sp. nov.

A collection of exceptionally well-preserved fossil specimens of crustaceans, clearly representatives of Isopoda, is presented here. Excavated from the late Eocene (approximately 40 million years ago) freshwater sediments of the Trupelník hill field site near Kučlín, Czech Republic, these specimens are preserved with many details of the appendages. The morphological characteristics of the fossils were documented using macro-photography with polarised light, as well as stereo imaging.

Changes in the Morphological Diversity of Larvae of Lance Lacewings, Mantis Lacewings and Their Closer Relatives over 100 Million Years.

Neuroptera, the group of lacewings, comprises only about 6000 species in the modern fauna, but is generally assumed to have been more diverse and important in the past. A major factor of the modern-day ecological diversity of the group, and supposedly in the past as well, is represented by the highly specialised larval forms of lacewings. Quantitative analyses of the morphology of larvae revealed a loss of morphological diversity in several lineages.

Two new species of branchial fish parasitic isopod of the genus Costa, in Hope, 1851 (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) from Nigeria.

The branchial attaching, fish parasitic genus Costa, in Hope, 1851 is recorded for the first time from Nigerian brackish waters on (Perciformes: Monodactylidae). is characterised by a trapezoid-shaped cephalon with a subtruncate rostrum; pereonite 1 anterolateral angles only reaching to the posterior margin of the eyes; particularly large and wide coxa 7 extending to pleonite 4; pereopod 7 with a narrow basis; broadly rounded pleotelson; and uropods extending to the pleotelson posterior margin, with subequal rami. is characterised by its small size (7 mm); a posteriorly ovoid body shape; cephalon anterior margin truncate; a short pleon with pleotelson lateral margins converging to a narrowly rounded apex; pleonite lateral margins overlapped by pereonite 7; slender uropods that extend to the posterior margin of the pleotelson with the uropodal exopod almost double the length of the endopod.

Shape of attachment structures in parasitic isopodan crustaceans: the influence of attachment site and ontogeny.

Many fields of modern systematic biology are adult-centred. This is unfortunately also the case for Cymothoidae, an ingroup of parasitic forms of Isopoda, with fishes as hosts. Different ingroups of Cymothoidae have specialised appendages that enable their fish associated lifestyles, attaching to different sites on the body of the host.

Review of the fish parasitic genus Schioedte & Meinert, 1884 (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cymothoidae) from South Africa, including the description of three new species.

The branchial-attaching cymothoid genus, Schioedte & Meinert, 1884 is a genus with a worldwide distribution of 36 species, including the three species described here. (Milne Edwards, 1840) is the only species that has been described from southern Africa. All South African material held at the National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France (MNHN) and the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town (SAMC) identified as, or appearing to belong to, was examined.