Acantholochus is a genus of parasitic copepod

Copepod

Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...

s belonging to the family Bomolochidae

Bomolochidae

Bomolochidae is a family of parasitic copepods, containing the following genera:*Acanthocolax Vervoort, 1969*Acantholochus Cressey, 1984*Bomolochus Nordmann, 1832*Boylea Cressey, 1977*Ceratocolax Vervoort, 1965...

. Its members can only be distinguished from the closely related genus Hamaticolax

Hamaticolax

Hamaticolax is a genus of parasitic copepods belonging to the family Bomolochidae. Its members can only be distinguished from the closely related genus Acantholochus by the presence of an accessory process on the claw of the maxillipeds. It includes the following species:*Hamaticolax attenuatus...

by the absence of an accessory process on the claw of the maxillipeds. It includes the following species:

• Acantholochus albidus (Wilson, 1932)
• Acantholochus asperatus (Cressey & Cressey, 1980)
• Acantholochus australiensis (Byrnes, 1986)
• Acantholochus crevalleus (Cressey, 1981)
• Acantholochus divaricatus (Cressey & Cressey, 1980)
• Acantholochus nasus Cressey, 1984
• Acantholochus nudiusculus (Cressey & Cressey, 1980)
• Acantholochus venustus (Kabata, 1971)
• Acantholochus zairae Morales-Serna & Gómez, 2010

The following species were formerly included in Acantholochus but are now placed in Hamaticolax:

• Hamaticolax galeichthyos (Luque & Bruno, 1990)
• Hamaticolax paralabracis (Luque & Bruno, 1990)
• Hamaticolax unisagittatus (Tavares & Luque, 2003)