Rhizocephalan barnacles have been reported to parasitize a wide range of king crab species (Lithodidae). So far all these parasites have been assigned to a single species, Briarosaccus callosus Boschma, 1930, which is assumed to have a global distribution. Here we investigate Briarosaccus specimens from three different king crab hosts from the fjord systems of Southeastern Alaska: Lithodes aequispinus Benedict, 1895, Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815), and Paralithodes platypus (Brandt, 1850). Using molecular markers and by morphological comparison we show that Briarosaccus specimens from these three commercial exploited king crabs are in fact morphologically distinct from B. callosus, and further represent two separate species which we describe. The two new species, Briarosaccus auratum n. sp. and B. regalis n. sp., are cryptic by morphological means and were identified as distinct species by the use of genetic markers (COI and 16S). They occur sympatrically, yet no overlap in king crab hosts occurs, with B. auratum n. sp. only found on L. aequispinus, and B. regalis n. sp. as parasite of the two Paralithodes hosts.

中文翻译：

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北太平洋帝王蟹寄生虫Briarosaccus（Ciripedia：Rhizocephala）的两个隐匿和同域新种

据报道，Rhizocephalan 藤壶寄生于多种帝王蟹（Lithodidae）。到目前为止，所有这些寄生虫都被归为一个物种，即 Briarosaccus callosus Boschma，1930 年，它被认为具有全球分布。在这里，我们调查了来自阿拉斯加东南部峡湾系统的三种不同帝王蟹寄主的 Briarosaccus 标本：Lithodes aequispinus Benedict，1895、Parlithodes camtschaticus（Tilesius，1815）和 Paralithodes platypus（Brandt，1850）。使用分子标记和形态比较，我们表明来自这三种商业开发的帝王蟹的 Briarosaccus 标本实际上在形态上与胼胝体不同，并进一步代表了我们描述的两个独立物种。两个新种 Briarosaccus auratum n。sp. 和 B. regalis n. sp., 通过形态学手段是神秘的，并通过使用遗传标记（COI 和 16S）被鉴定为不同的物种。它们同域发生，但在帝王蟹宿主中没有发生重叠，B. auratum n。sp. 仅在 L. aequispinus 和 B. regalis n. 上发现。sp. 作为两个 Paralithodes 宿主的寄生虫。