A new Species ofMugilicola Tripathi (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida) and a Review of the Family Therodamasidae Geoffrey A. Boxshall (Communicated by C. N. Smithers) Boxshall, G. A. A new species oi Mugilicola Tripatiii (Copepoda: Poecilostomatoida) and a review of the family Therodamasidae. Ptoc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 108 (3), (1985) 1986: 183-186. A new species of Mugilicola is described from the gills oiSillago ciliata caught off the coast of New South Wales. Mugilicola and Paeonodes are closely related but neither ex-hibits the same tagmosis as Therodamas, the type genus of the family Therodamasidae to which all three genera have been referred. There is no apparent justification for retain-ing the Therodamasidae as a separate family since these genera can be regarded as highly transformed representatives of the Ergasilidae. G. A. Boxshall, Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, Lon-don SW7 5BD, England; manuscript received 27 November 1984, accepted for publication 17 April 1985. KEYWORDS: parasitic copepod — Therodamasidae — Australia — fish host. Introduction The genus Mugilicola was established by Tripathi (1960) to accommodate a copepod parasite of two species of Mugil from India. Tripathi placed Mugilicola in a new family, the Therodamasidae, based on the genus Therodamas Krciyer, 1863. This family is closely related to the Ergasilidae, as recognized by Thomsen (1949) and Tripathi (1960). Cressey (1972), in his discussion of the genus Therodamas, suggested that it might be ac-corded subfamUial separation within the family Ergasilidae. Hewitt (1969) enlarged the Therodamasidae by the transfer of the genus Paeonodes Wilson, 1944. Paeonodes and Mugilicola share the same tagmosis and are closely related but their relationship with the type genus, Therodamas, is slight. The discovery of a third species of Mugilicola from Aus-tralia stimulated this review of the family. Materials and Methods A single female was collected from the gills of a whiting, Sillago ciliata Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1829, caught off Arrawarra Beach, New South Wales, Australia. The specimen was part of an extensive collection made by Klaus Rohde (University of New England, Armidale) from fishes of southeastern Australia. The holotype 9 is deposited in the collections of the British Museum (Natural History), Reg. No. 1984.189. The specimen was dissected and examined in lactophenol. Drawings were made using an Olympus BH-2 microscope and drawing tube. Mugilicola australiensis new species Description: Body of adult female (Fig. lA) highly transformed and lacking any ob-vious external segmentation. Head small, widest posteriorly but without cephalic lobes. Neck long and slender comprising over 60 per cent of the total body length and merging imperceptibly with the broader trunk. Trunk bearing first legs just posterior to its mid-level, legs 2 and 3 on its posterior surface (Fig. IB). Small urosome (Fig. IC) consisting PROC. LINN. Soc. N.S.W., 108(3), (1985) 1986
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