A review of the bopyrid isopods parasitic on thalassinidean decapods

The epicaridean isopods currently contains just over 500 described species, of which 52 species infest at least 48 species of hosts in the Thalassinidea. This proportion of 10% of the species in the Bopyridae is much greater than expected from the number of known species of tiialassinideans. Aside from the peculiar Phyllodurus abdominalis, all of the parasites of dialassinideans belong to the bopyrid subfamilies Pseudioninae and Ioninae and infest dieir hosts branch ially. This report presents tabulations of all the known bopyrids infesting dialassinideans witii dieir hosts and localities and of the host species and their respective parasites and localities. Several hosts bear numerous species of parasites, while many parasites infest multiple species of hosts in patterns unusual for the Bopyridae. A discussion of the tabulations presents possible interpretations of the known occurrence of diese species.