Nerocila benrosei N-Sp (Isopoda : Cymothoidae), an external parasite of hogfishes from the northern Bahamas

Nerocila benrosei n. sp. is described from the hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximu s (Walbaum), and the Spanish hogfish, Bodianus rufus (Linnaeus), (Perciform es: Labridae) from the northern Bahamas. Nerocila benrosei differs from all species of Nerocila by having the body of females 1.4-1.9 times as wide as long, instead of 2.0-3.0 times, and pleopods 1 and 2 lacking accessory lam ellae. It differs from the only species of Nerocila with which it overlaps geographically, N. lanceolata (Say, 1818), by having the lateral margins of pleonites 1-5 strongly produced ventrally, coxae 5-7 manifestly shorter th an the posterolateral projection of the respective pereonite, and a vaulted dorsal surface. The species of Nerocila in the northwestern Atlantic have almost mutually exclusive geographic ranges: New England to Panama, includi ng Bermuda and the northern coast of Cuba (Nerocila lanceolata); Brazil to Trinidad and Tobago (Nerocila fluviatilis Schiodte and Meinert, 1881); and the northern Bahamas and Bermuda (Nerocila benrosei). No species of Nerocil a have been reported from the insular Caribbean. Nerocila benrosei appears to be highly host and site specific.