Renocila richardsonae Williams & Bunkley-Williams 1992

Renocila richardsonae Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1992

(Fig. 12 A–D)

Renocila sp. Bruce, 1987c: 169.

Renocila richardsonae Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1992: 301, figs 2–4.— Arthur & Lumanlan-Mayo, 1997: 96.— Kua, Jamil & Bruce, 2022: 1, figs 2, 3.

Type material. National Museum of Natural History (USNM 231173). For details of paratypes refer to Williams & Bunkley-Williams (1992).

Type locality. Philippines, Sulada Island (see Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1992).

Type host. Williams & Bunkley-Williams (1992) mentioned “ Pseudupeneus macronema ” [now accepted as Parupeneus macronemus (Lacepède 1801)].

Material examined. 1 ♀ ovig. (16.42 mm TL, 7.48 mm W), 1 ♁ mature (12.04 mm TL, 5.16 mm W), 200- meter depth off the coast of Sarawak, Malaysia; 02°02.474’ to 03°45.153’; 110°35.599’ to 110°50.351’, 27 April to 10th May 2010, beam-trawl, from Upeneus japonicus (Mullidae), coll. Kua Beng Chu and crew of KK Manchung (MTQ WW 34362).

Host. Renocila richardsonae has only been recorded from the family Mullidae. The current specimens were collected from the Japanese goatfish Upeneus japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782) and the long-barbed goatfish Parupeneus macronemus (Lacepède, 1801) (Williams & Bunkley-Williams 1992). Williams & Bunkley-Williams (1992) noted Fowler’s host record for the USNM 40949 paratype was retrieved from the tail of a snapper, which could either be from the family Lutjanidae or Nemipteridae, thus this record is regarded as both unconfirmed and doubtful.

Distribution. Central Indo-Pacific: Malaysia, Sarawak (present study); Philippines (Williams & BunkleyWilliams 1992).

Remarks. Renocila richardsonae was first recorded from Malaysian waters by Kua et al. (2022) and differs from other members of the genus by pereopods 1 and 2 basis and pereopods 1 to 6 ischium with distinct protrusion. For a key to the species of Renocila refer to Aneesh et al. (2022).

The specimens collected from Sarawak had a prevalence of 6% and a mean intensity of one isopod per fish. The species attaches anterior to the caudal peduncle of its host (similar to that reported in Williams & BunkleyWilliams 1992) and also to the abdomen (Kua et al. 2022), with some musculature lesions caused by penetration of the pereopod dactyli. In contrast, Renocila ovata can be recognised by having the large flattened antennula and the dactylus on pereopods 1–4 that is strongly recurved. The type locality of Renocila ovata is Jakarta Bay, Indonesia (Bruce 1987c), not Malaysia as believed by Bleeker (1880).