Sea urchins have a wide variety of symbionts on their body surfaces and inside their bodies. Copepods of the genus Clavisodalis (Taeniacanthidae) collected from the esophagus of sea urchins of the genera Diadema and Echinothrix in southern Japan were identified based on their morphological characteristics, and molecular analysis was conducted to determine whether genetic variation occurs in copepods from different localities and hosts. Morphological observations identified individuals from southern Japan as Clavisodalis sentifer Dojiri and Humes, 1982, making this the first record of this species in the northern hemisphere and the first record of its genus in Japan. Morphological and molecular analysis suggested that the copepod specimens collected from multiple hosts across two genera would be the same species. Considering the typically observed high level of host specificity among taeniacanthid copepods, the utilization of hosts from two genera by C. sentifer is noteworthy.
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3 June 2024
Morphological and Molecular Evidence of an Intergeneric Host-Range in Clavisodalis sentifer (Crustacea: Copepoda: Taeniacanthidae) Associated with Diadematid Sea Urchins from the Western Pacific
Luna Yamamori,
Hayate Tanaka,
Daisuke Uyeno
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Zoological Science
Vol. 41 • No. 4
August 2024
Vol. 41 • No. 4
August 2024
18S rRNA
28S rRNA
Coral reef
Diadematidae
Echinoidea
ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2
symbiosis