A new species of Cycliophora from the mouthparts of the American lobster, Homarus americanus (Nephropidae, Decapoda)

The present study describes a new species of Cycliophora with the aid of light- and electron microscopy. The animals live attached or free-living on the mouth appendages of the American lobster, Homarus americanus. Individuals occur in dense clusters of up to several thousand individuals. The new species is named Symbion americanus sp. nov. according to the name of its host; it can be distinguished from the previously described species Symbion pandora by the presence of a posterior pair of retractable tubular appendages or toes in the Prometheus larva. Morphological variation among cycliophorans on H. americanus collected in different localities seems to be high. In several sexual populations of S. americanus, older feeding individuals with a female typically have 5–13 rings of cuticular scars and a thicker cuticle. Moreover, attached Prometheus larvae frequently contain three males, chordoid cysts possess a distal appendix, and chordoid larval morphology varies among localities. These differences in morphology might indicate the existence of cryptic species. The presence of toes in the Prometheus larva could support a cycliophoran relationship with rotiferan taxa, although additional ultrastructural studies are needed. Considering that the genus Homarus is at least 60 My years old, and with regard to its history of speciation, it seems possible that the two Symbion species separated during the Pleistocene.