Two new species of branchial fish parasitic isopod of the genus Mothocya Costa, in Hope, 1851 (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) from Nigeria

The branchial attaching, fish parasitic genus Mothocya Costa, in Hope, 1851 is recorded for the first time from Nigerian brackish waters on Monodactylus sebae (Perciformes: Monodactylidae). Mothocya andonin. sp. is characterised by a trapezoid-shaped cephalon with a subtruncate rostrum; pereonite 1 anterolateral angles only reaching to the posterior margin of the eyes; particularly large and wide coxa 7 extending to pleonite 4; pereopod 7 with a narrow basis; broadly rounded pleotelson; and uropods extending to the pleotelson posterior margin, with subequal rami. Mothocya powellin. sp. is characterised by its small size (7 mm); a posteriorly ovoid body shape; cephalon anterior margin truncate; a short pleon with pleotelson lateral margins converging to a narrowly rounded apex; pleonite lateral margins overlapped by pereonite 7; slender uropods that extend to the posterior margin of the pleotelson with the uropodal exopod almost double the length of the endopod.
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Highlights • Mothocya andoni n. sp. and Mothocya powelli n. sp. are described. • First records of Mothocya from Nigeria. • Full descriptions and identifying characteristics for the two new species are provided. • Increased knowledge on the understudied eastern South Atlantic.