Similascarophis n. gen. n. spp. (Nematoda: Cystidicolidae) parasitizing marine fishes off the Chilean coast

Similascarophis (Cystidicolidae) n. gen. is proposed. In the mouth of specimens of this genus, submedial labia are absent and pseudolabia do not have any part projecting toward the central oral opening. These nematodes were obtained from the alimentary tract of 7 marine fish species along the coast of Chile: Bovichthys chilensis Regan, Eleginops maclovinus (Cuvier), Pinguipes chilensis (Valenciennes), Cilus gilberti (Abbott), Cheilodactylus variegatus Valenciennes, Girella laevifrons (Tschudi), and Graus nigra Philippi. Morphology and morphometry are compared between 2 new Similascarophis species: Similascarophis maulensis n. sp. and S. chilensis n. sp., which differ in the presence of sublabia and in the length of the glandular esophagus and left spicule. We also recorded Similascarophis sp. in 2 other host species, which showed some distinct proportional measurements, although these differences were not sufficiently clear to identify them as a new species.