#copepoda — Public Fediverse posts

#Parasite of the Day: Diexanthema hakuhomaruae http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2023/07/diexanthema-hakuhomaruae.html

D. hakuhomaruae sp. nov. (#Copepoda) from the #HadalZone in the Northwestern #Pacific https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11686-023-00676-z

"Parasitic #copepods come in all kinds of shapes that would defy most people's idea of what a #crustacean is 'supposed' to look like. And D. hakuhomaruae is no different - its tiny body is ROUND and if anything, it looks like a legless tick. And much like a tick, it attaches itself stubbornly to the leg of its host"

Any ideas? It looks vaguely copepod-y to me (which is sort of an admission of ignorance), but others have suggested that it might be some sort of water mite. Both of these identities require that the creature was somehow replaced with silica. #crustacea #chelicerata #acari #copepoda #cryptozoology #arthropoda #borneo
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