Authors

Discussion

Gnathiid isopods are marine crustacean ectoparasites that do not permanently live on their fish hosts, being parasitic only in their larval stages. As gnathiids have been reported as one of the more common marine ectoparasites in coral reef habitats, it is unsurprising that more than a third of Gnathia species have either been originally described or reported from the Central Indo-Pacific. While the Philippines sits within the region of highest marine biodiversity in the world, the coral triangle, no gnathiid species have been identified or described from that region. Here we present the first records of two gnathiid species collected from the Visayas, central Philippines: Gnathia malaysiensis Müller, 1993, previously described from Malaysia, and G. camuripenis Tanaka, 2004, previously described from southern Japan. This study provided detailed morphological redescriptions, drawings and scanning electron microscope images as well as the first molecular characterisation of both species.