A review of the family ergasilidae (copepoda: poecilostomatoida) of Africa

English: Ten Ergasilus von Nordmann, 1832 species and two Paraergasilus Markewitsch, 1937 species have been described from African freshwater habitats since the beginning of the twentieth century. As part of this study, the information for these known species was put together to form a complete review of the freshwater African ergasilids with the distribution, description and drawings of all 12 species included. A substantial amount of research has been conducted from the major systems of Africa, but very little has been done in southern Africa. In this study specimens were collected from the Okavango River and Delta and Lake Malawi using a wide variety of collection methods. After the specimens were examined it was found that the material included four new species, two from each study area. The two new species from the Okavango Delta include Ergasilus sp. A from Synodontis nigromaculatus Boulenger, 1905 and Ergasilus sp. B from Brycinus lateralis (Boulenger, 1900). The seasonality and host specificity of the ergasilids collected from the Okavango Delta was discussed, and it was found that the Ergasilus species are not host specific and are more prevalent in the summer months. The species from Lake Malawi include Ergasilus sp. C from Petrotilapia genalutea Marsh, 1983 and Paraergasilus sp. A from Pseudotropheus tropheops Regan, 1922. A review of all the fish species and parasitic crustaceans collected from Lake Malawi is provided, no conclusion could be made on the seasonality of the ergasilids from Lake Malawi due to a lack of information. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted for all the freshwater Ergasilus species using Oermoergasilus mugiiis Oldewage & van As, 1988 as the outgroup. Finally a taxonomic key was compiled for Ergasilus, including all the known and new species.