TWO NEW SPECIES OF CLAVELLA (COPEPODA, SIPHONOSTOMATOIDA, LERNAEOPODIDAE) AND A NEW SPECIES OF LOPHOURA (COPEPODA, SIPHONOSTOMATOIDA, SPHYRIIDAE): PARASITES ON THE DEEP-WATER FISH, NEZUMIA PULCHELLA FROM THE NORTHERN CHILEAN COAST

Three new species of parasitic copepods were isolated from the macrourid fish, Nezumia pulchella (Pequeno, 1971), caught along the northern Chilean coast, and are described and illustrated herein. Clavella singularis n. sp. is characterized by the shape and armature of the second antenna, and, by a combination of characteristics, can be distinguished from all other congeneric species bearing a genital process. Clavella fortis n. sp. is characterized by a strong cephalosome and by a combination of characteristics that also differentiates it from its congeners with a genital process. The new species, Lophoura unilobulata is characterized by the presence of a simple holdfast, with one lobe on each side of the neck. With this report, the number of reported Clavella species parasitizing fish from the Chilean coast increases to nine. In addition, the L. unilobulata reported herein represents the third record of a Lophoura species parasitizing a species of the genus Nezumia and represents the first record of the genus in the southeastern Pacific ocean; it is also the third record of a species of the family Sphyriidae occurring along the Chilean coast.