Hexapleomera urashima sp. nov. (Crustacea: Tanaidacea), a tanaidid epibiotic on loggerhead sea turtles at Yakushima Island, Japan

A new species of tanaidacean crustacean, Hexapleomera urashima, has been identified as an epibiotic inhabiting the carapaces of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in Yakushima Island, Japan. This discovery challenges existing diagnostic criteria for the genus Hexapleomera by revealing significant intra-species variability in key morphological traits, such as the presence of a dorsal triangular process on the male fixed finger and the number of inner setae on pleopodal endopods. The study employed genetic analysis of the COI gene, which confirmed the species' distinctiveness with 32.2-48.4% K2P distance from other genera but also highlighted the gene's limitations for phylogenetic reconstruction within Tanaididae due to saturation substitution indices.

TANABE, Y., HAYASHI, R., TOMIOKA, S., & KAKUI, K. (2017). Hexapleomera urashima sp. nov. (Crustacea: Tanaidacea), a tanaidid epibiotic on loggerhead sea turtles at Yakushima Island, Japan. Zootaxa, 4353(1). https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4353.1.9