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A REPORT ON THE PARASITIC COPEPODA AND BRANCHIURA OF THE FISHES OF LAKE BANGWEULU (NORTHERN RHODESIA)
Author(s) -
FRYER GEOFFREY
Publication year - 1959
Publication title -
proceedings of the zoological society of london
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0370-2774
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1959.tb05535.x
Subject(s) - copepod , biology , ecology , crustacean , taxonomy (biology) , zoology
SUMMARY An account is given of the parasitic Copepoda and Branchiura of the fishes of Lake Bangweulu. At least seven species of parasitic Copepoda and seven species of Branchiura are now known to occur in the lake, one copepod and three branchiurans being described as new in the present paper. The systematic status of the specimens of Chonopeltis previously described from the lower part of the Congo system under the name of C. inermis var schoutedeni is discussed, and it is shown that two distinct species, neither of them C. inermis , were obscured by this name. Notes on the structure and biology of individual species are given. The distribution of the species recorded supports and supplements the idea derived from a study of fish distribution that migration has, in the past, been possible between the Congo and Zambezi systems, and also between the Congo and Nile systems, yet at the same time has emphasised the isolation of Lake Nyasa and the endemic nature of some of the species of Lernaea recorded from that lake.