Description of the adult female and male of Naobranchia kabatana n. sp. (Copepoda: Lernaeopodidae) from Muraenesox bagio (Hamilton) (Muraenesocidae) caught in the Indian Ocean off South Africa.

Naobranchia Hesse, 1863 is a genus of the family Lernaeopodidae. This report presents an illustrated description of the adult female and male of a new species of this genus collected from the gill filaments of Muraenesox bagio (Hamilton) (pike conger) caught off the coast of Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its morphological features were examined using light and scanning electron microscopy. Characteristic features of the female Naobranchia kabatana n. sp. include egg-sacs situated along most the length of the trunk, cephalothorax and trunk of about equal lengths, and egg-sacs, lacking distinct sclerotised bands, which meet at the posterior end of the body and usually obscure the abdomen and caudal rami in ovigerous specimens. The male has no division into the cephalothorax and trunk, resulting in an unsegmented body with a prominent genito-abdominal papilla in a subterminal position.