New species of fish parasite named after Xena, the warrior princess

(Pensoft Publishers) A study of crustacean parasites attaching themselves inside the branchial cavities (the gills) of their fish hosts was conducted in order to reveal potentially unrecognised diversity of the genus Elthusa in South Africa. While there had only been one known species from South Africa, a new article published in the open-access journal ZooKeys adds another three to the list, including one named after fictional character Xena because of the strong appearance of the females.
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: news