Three New Species of Dendrogaster (Crustacea: Ascothoracida) Infecting Goniasterid Sea-Stars (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) from Japan

Abstract

Three new species of the ascothoracidan crustacean genus Dendrogaster Knipovich, 1890 (Dendrogasteridae) are described from goniasterid sea-stars in Japan. Dendrogaster komatsuae sp. nov. and D. tobasuii sp. nov. were found respectively in the coelomic cavities of Lithosoma japonica Hayashi, 1952 and two species of Mediaster: M. arcuatus (Sladen, 1889) and M. brachiatus Goto, 1914 from the Kumano-nada Sea. Dendrogaster nagasakimaruae sp. nov. was similarly found in Nymphaster euryplax Fisher, 1913 from the East China Sea. Partial DNA sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 16S ribosomal RNA genes were determined for D. tobasuii sp. nov. These findings represent the first records of Dendrogaster from the host family Goniasteridae in Japan.