Redescription of the fish parasite Nerocila serra Schioedte and Meinert, 1881 (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) from India, with a lectotype designation, and Nerocila pulicatensis Jayadev Babu and Sanjeeva Raj, 1984 placed into synonymy
The parasitic isopod Nerocila serra Schioedte and Meinert, 1881 is redescribed based on a gravid female lectotype (here designated) from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and additional material from Indian waters. Nerocila pulicatensis Jayadev Babu and Sanjeeva Raj, 1984 is here placed into synonymy with N. serra. Ovigerous females of N. serra can be distinguished from their congeners by the coxae and postero-lateral angles of all pereonites narrowly produced; coxae 5–7 pointed with broad processes, longer than their respective segment; pereopod 3 with a single distal spine on the propodus; and uropodal endopod longer and narrower than exopod, with a shallower notch on the medial margin and small serrations on the lateral margin.