Pseudempleurosoma gibsoni n. sp., a new ancyrocephalid monogenean from Paralonchurus brasiliensis (Sciaenidae) from off the southeastern coast of Brazil

Pseudempleurosoma gibsoni n. sp. (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) is described from the oesophagus of Paralonchurus brasiliensis (Steindachner) from off the coast of Brazil. The type-species of Pseudempleurosoma Yamaguti, 1965, P. carangis Yamaguti, 1965, is redescribed and the diagnosis of the genus is amended. Metadiplectanotrema Gerasev et al. 1987 is considered synonym of Pseudempleurosoma. This genus now contains four species, including P. carangis, P. caranxi Gerasev et al., 1987 n. comb., P. myripristi Gerasev et al., 1987 n. comb. and the one new species.     

A new cestode (Tetraphyllidea: Phyllobothriidae) in elasmobranchs from the Taiwan Strait

In total, 20 fanrays, Platyrhina sinensis (Rajiformes: Rhinobatidae), collected from the Taiwan Strait, were examined. A new phyllobothriid genus and species (Tetraphyllidea: Phyllobothriidae) was found and described. Biotobothrium platyrhina n. gen., n. sp. is assigned to the Rhinebothriinae Euzet, 1953, because it possesses 4 stalked bothridia that are each divided by septa into numerous small facial loculi but that lack apical suckers. The new genus and species is clearly different from any other in Rhinebothriinae in that each bothridium bears 2 sets of 5 small facial loculi, with 1 set located at each of the distal ends of the bothridium, rather than facial loculi throughout the entire distal surface of the bothridium, as is seen in all other genera in the subfamily. This character has not been previously reported for members of Rhinebothriinae. In addition, the testicular arrangement in the anterior quarter of the proglottid is unique. The posterior range of the vas deferens almost reaches the ovarian bridge, and the morphology of the cirrus sac and several other morphological characters are at variance with presently described species in the subfamily.     

Notomegarhynchus navonae n. gen. and n. sp. (Eucestoda: Tetraphyllidea), from skates (Rajidae: Arhynchobatinae) in the southern hemisphere

Notomegarhynchus n. gen. (Eucestoda: Tetraphyllidea) is proposed to accommodate Notomegarhynchus navonae n. gen., n. sp. from Atlantoraja castelnaui in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Notomegarhynchus shetlandicum n. comb. from Bathyraja eatonii and B. maccaini in South Shetlands region, Antarctica, is a second species in the genus. Notomegarhynchus belongs to the Echeneibothriinae within the Phyllobothriidae. It can be distinguished from all other tetraphyllidean genera by the structure of the scolex in form of a massive myzorhynchus consisting of a proscolex and an apical organ, both of which are nonretractable and noninvaginable; in addition, there are 4 pedunculated and nonloculate acetabula. Notomegarhynchus shetlandicum is differentiated from N. navonae particularly in details of acetabular and myzorhynchus morphology, arrangement of testes, and shape of eggs. The inclusion of Notomegarhynchus in the Echeneibothriinae requires emendation of the diagnosis of the subfamily to include taxa possessing postvaginal testes. In addition, new terminology is proposed for distinct regions of the scolex.     

Glossocercus chelodinae (MacCallum, 1921) n. comb. (Cestoda: Dilepididae) from freshwater turtles in Australia and a redefinition of the genus Bancroftiella Johnston, 1911

Glossocercus chelodinae (MacCallum, 1921) n. comb. is redescribed from fresh material recovered from the intestine of an Australian freshwater turtle, Chelodina expansa. G. chelodinae can be distinguished from all other species of the genus by the shape of its rostellar hooks. It is suggested that this species has colonised fish-eating turtles from fish-eating birds. The morphological relationships among Parvitaenia, Bancroftiella and Glossocercus are discussed. The diagnosis of Bancroftiella is amended and marsupials are eliminated as hosts. Bancroftiella sudarikovi Spasskii &; Yurpalova, 1970 becomes a synonym of Glossocercus glandularis (Fuhrmann, 1905); only B. tenuis Johnston, 1911, the type-species, and B. ardeae Johnston, 1911 remain in the genus.     

Batwanema gen. n. and Chokwenema gen. n. (Oxyurida,?Hystrignathidae), new nematode genera?as parasites of Passalidae (Coleoptera) from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Two new genera and species parasitizing passalid beetles from the Democratic Republic of Congo are described. Batwanema congo gen. n. et sp. n. is characterized by having females with the cervical cuticle armed with scale-like projections, arranged initially in rows of eight elements that gradually divide and form pointed spines toward the end of the spiny region, two cephalic annuli, clavate procorpus and genital tract monodelphic-prodelphic. Two Malagasian species of Artigasia Christie, 1934 were placed in this genus as B. latum (Van Waerebeke, 1973) comb. n. and B. annulatum (Van Waerebeke, 1973) comb. n. Chokwenema lepidophorum gen. n. et sp. n. is characterized by having females with the cervical cuticle armed with scale-like projections, arranged initially in rows of eight elements (similar to Batwanema) that divide gradually, forming spines; a single cephalic annule cone-like, truncated, moderately inflated; procorpus sub-cylindrical and genital tract didelphic-amphidelphic.     

Spalacina yanchevi n. g., n. sp. (Nematoda: Heligmonellidae) from the lesser mole rat Spalax leucodon (Rodentia: Spalacidae)

Spalacina n. g. (Heligmonellidae, Nippostrongylinae) is erected for S. yanchevi n. sp. (type-species) [syns Heligmonina nevoi of Genov & Janchev (1982) and Genov (1984)] from Spalax leucodon (Spalacidae) and two other species from spalacid rodents previously considered as members of Heligmonina Baylis, 1928: S. spalacis (Sharpilo, 1973) n. comb. and S. nevoi (Wertheim & Durette-Desset, 1975) n. comb. The new genus belongs to the subfamily Nippostrongylinae and is closely related to the genus Heligmonina from which it can be distinguished by a greater angle of rotation of the synlophe, the absence of a gradient on the ventral ridges and a weakly developed right dorsal ridge. The zoogeographical distribution of Spalacina spp. is associated with that of Palaearctic spalacids. S. yanchevi differs from S. spalacis and S. nevoi in the number and size of the ridges, the distance between the extremities of the rays 6 and 8, the degree of reduction of the dorsal ray and the length of the spicules.     

Revision of the Southeast Asian millipede genus Orthomorpha Bollman, 1893, with the proposal of a new genus (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)

The large genus Orthomorpha is rediagnosed and is shown to currently comprise 51 identifiable species ranging from northern Myanmar and Thailand in the Northwest to Lombok Island, Indonesia in the Southeast. Of them, 20 species have been revised and/or abundantly illustrated, based on a restudy of mostly type material; further 12 species are described as new: Orthomorpha atypicasp. n., Orthomorpha communissp. n., Orthomorpha isarankuraisp. n., Orthomorpha picturatasp. n., Orthomorpha similanensissp. n., Orthomorpha suberectasp. n., Orthomorpha tuberculiferasp. n.,Orthomorpha subtuberculiferasp. n. and Orthomorpha latitergasp. n., all from Thailand, as well as Orthomorpha elevatasp. n.,Orthomorpha spiniformissp. n. and Orthomorpha subelevatasp. n., from northern Malaysia. The type-species Orthomorpha beaumontii (Le Guillou, 1841) is redescribed in due detail from male material as well, actually being a senior subjective synonym of Orthomorpha spinala (Attems, 1932), syn. n. Two additional new synonymies are proposed: Orthomorpha rotundicollis (Attems, 1937) = Orthomorpha tuberculata (Attems, 1937), syn. n., and Orthomorpha butteli Carl, 1922 = Orthomorpha consocius Chamberlin, 1945, syn. n., the valid names to the left. All species have been keyed and all new and some especially widespread species have been mapped. Further six species, including two revised from type material, are still to be considered dubious, mostly because their paraterga appear to be too narrow to represent Orthomorpha species. A new genus, Orthomorphoidesgen. n., diagnosed versus Orthomorpha through only moderately well developed paraterga, coupled with a poorly bi- or trifid gonopod tip, with at least some of its apical prongs being short spines, is erected for two species: Orthomorpha setosus (Attems, 1937), the type-species, which is also revised from type material, and Orthomorpha exaratus (Attems, 1953), both comb. n. ex Orthomorpha.     

Description of a new cestode species Mircia shigini gen. et sp. n. (Cyclophyliidea: Schistotaeniidae)

A new genus and species of cestodes from the great-crested grebe Podiceps cristatus collected in the Eastern Europe is described. The genus Mircia gen. n. in addition to the type species M. shigini gen. n. includes the following species formerly being included in the genus Joyeuxilepis Spassky, 1947: M. decacantha (Fuhrmann, 1913) comb. n., M. decacanthoides (Borgarenko et Gulyaev, 1991) comb. n., M. fimbriata (Borgarenko, Spasskaja et Spassky, 1972), comb. n., and M. uralensis (Gulyaev, 1989) comb. n. Brief revision of the genus Joyeuxilepis is provide.     

Brachylepis gen. n.--a new genus of cestodes (Cyclophyllidea: Hymenolepididae) from shrews in Siberia and the Far East

A new genus Brachylepis gen. n. hymenolepididean cestodes associated with common shrews (Sorex) in Siberia and Russian Far East is created. These genus includes three species removed from the genus Mathevolepis: Brachylepis morosovi (Karpenko, 1994) comb. n. (type species), B. sorextscherskii (Morosov, 1957) comb. n. and B. triovaria Karpenko, 1990) comb. n. The new genus is characterized by the gradual strobila with a little number of segments, unarmed scolex with apical glandular organ, by lack of internal seminal vesicle and differential seminal receptacle, by form of uterus as horse shoe in young worms and buble-like in mature worms. A tendency of inverse proportional dependence between the number of uterus segments in the strobila and the number of hexacanths in the uterus has been noticed. The table of differential characters for the species of the genus Brachylepis is proposed.     

Diplectanids infesting the gills of the barramundi Lates calcarifer (Bloch) (Perciformes: Centropomidae), with the proposal of Laticola n. g. (Monogenoidea: Diplectanidae)

Four species of the Monogenoidea, Laticola lingaoensis n. sp., L. latesi (Tripathi, 1957) n. comb. [previously Pseudorhabdosynochus latesi (Tripathi, 1957) Kritsky & Beverley-Burton, 1986], L. paralatesi (Nagibina, 1976) n. comb. [previously Diplectanum paralatesi Nagibina, 1976] and Diplectanum penangi Liang & Leong, 1991, are reported from the gills of Lates calcarifer (Centropomidae) from the South China Sea (new geographical records for L. latesi and D. penangi). Collections from off Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, Australia, represent a new geographic record for L. paralatesi; Chilka Lake, Orissa, India, is established as the type-locality for L. latesi. Laticola n. g. (Diplectanidae) is proposed for species with a spoon-shaped copulatory organ with two to four concentric incomplete ridges in the base. Laticola lingaoensis, the type-species of Laticola, is described, and L. latesi and L. paralatesi are redescribed based on specimens from the South China Sea. Pseudorhabdosynochus monosquamodiscusi Balasuriya & Leong, 1995 and Pseudorhabdosynochus yangjiangenesis Wu & Li, 2005 are considered junior subjective synonyms of L. latesi and L. paralatesi, respectively.     

Microcotyle visa n. sp. (Monogenea: Microcotylidae), a gill parasite of Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes) (Teleostei: Sparidae) off the Algerian coast,Western Mediterranean

Parasite biodiversity of fish of the southern part of the Mediterranean sea is still incompletely explored. We describe here Microcotyle visa n. sp. from the gill filaments of the bluespotted seabream Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes) (Sparidae) collected off the Algerian coast. The identity of fish hosts was confirmed by barcoding. Microcotyle visa n. sp. is herein described and illustrated. Analysis of the cox1 gene of the monogeneans revealed minor intraspecific variation (1.4%), an order of magnitude lower than the distance between this species and other Microcotyle species (10–15 %). Microcotyle visa n. sp. is distinguished from Microcotyle erythrini van Beneden & Hesse, 1863, a congener infesting sparids, on the basis of morphological (size of clamps, number of testes) and molecular (cox1) differences. This is the fourth member of the genus known to parasitise a sparid host. A species of Paramicrocotyle sp. included in the molecular analysis was nested within a robust Microcotyle + Paramicrocotyle clade; in the absence of demonstrated molecular and morphological differences, we consider that Paramicrocotyle Caballero & Bravo-Hollis, 1972 is a junior synonym of Microcotyle van Beneden & Hesse, 1863 and transfer two species of Paramicrocotyle as Microcotyle danielcarrioni (Martinez & Barrantes, 1977) n. comb. and Microcotyle moyanoi (Villalba & Fernandes, 1986) n. comb.

     

Morphology and infraciliature of a new marine ciliate Euplotidium smalli n. sp. with description of a new genus,Paraeuplotidium n. g. (Ciliophora,Euplotida)

The morphology and infraciliature of a new hypotrichous ciliate, Euplotidium smalli n. sp., isolated from eutrophic coastal water in Korea, were observed in living cells and investigated using the protargol impregnation technique. This new ciliate bears 13-14 frontoventral cirri, 7 transverse cirri, and 5-6 dorsal kineties. Neither left marginal cirrus nor caudal cirrus is present. The new species differs from the related species, Euplotidium agitatum Noland, 1937 in the different number of frontoventral and transverse cirri and different body shape. With the exception of Euplotidium agitatum, the known species of the genus Euplotidium Noland, 1937 with the presence of left marginal cirrus are assigned to a new genus, Paraeuplotidium n. g. Diagnosis of Paraeuplotidium is: Gastrocirrhidae with funnel-shaped buccal cavity; with frontoventral and transverse cirri; left marginal cirrus present. Paraeuplotidium itoi (Ito, 1958) n. comb. is designated here the type species. Four additional species are included: Paraeuplotidium psammophilus (Vacelet, 1961) n. comb., Paraeuplotidium arenarium (Magagnini & Nobili, 1964) n. comb., Paraeuplotidium helgae (Hartwig, 1980) n. comb., and Paraeuplotidium prosaltans (Tuffrau, 1985) n. comb. An improved generic diagnosis of Euplotidium is suggested based on morphology and infraciliature characters: marine hypotrichs with a funnel-shaped buccal cavity; with frontoventral and transverse cirri; neither left marginal cirrus nor caudal cirri present.     

Dramatic phenotypic plasticity within species of Siphomutabilus n. g. (Digenea: Cryptogonimidae) from Indo-Pacific caesionines (Perciformes: Lutjanidae)

A survey of Indo-Pacific lutjanids of the subfamily Caesioninae revealed the presence of Siphodera gurukun Machida, 1910 and two new cryptogonimid taxa from off Heron and Lizard Islands on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia and Rasdhoo Atoll, Maldives. A combined morphological and genetic characterisation of these species shows that they form a clade distinct from the type-species of Siphodera Linton, 1910, S. vinaledwardsii (Linton, 1901), and warrants the proposal of a new genus. Here we propose Siphomutabilus n. g. and transfer Siphodera gurukun Machida, 1986 as the type-species, Siphomutabilus gurukun (Machida, 1986) n. comb. Siphodera aegyptensis Hassanine & Gibson, 2005 is transferred to Siphomutabilus as S. aegyptensis (Hassanine & Gibson, 2005) n. comb. based on morphological and ecological similarities. Siphomutabilus raritas n. sp. is described from Caesio cuning (Bloch) off Lizard Island and S. bitesticulatus n. sp. is described from Pterocaesio marri Schultz off Heron Island. The two new species are unique in that they have two testes, making their morphology broadly consistent with that of Metadena Linton, 1910, yet the molecular analyses conducted here indicates that they are unequivocally united with Siphomutabilus gurukun (which has multiple testes) to the exclusion of Metadena lutiani (Yamaguti, 1942), which was sequenced here. The dramatic phenotypic plasticity observed among such closely related species of Siphomutabilus suggests a secondary modification of what is generally considered a robust generic diagnostic character within this and other digenean families, highlighting the need for a combined morphological and molecular diagnostic approach when characterising these taxa. Siphodera Linton, 1910 is amended to include just two species, the type-species S. vinaledwardsii (Linton, 1901) Linton, 1910 and S. cirrhiti Yamaguti, 1970, which are distinguished by their lack of oral spines and multiple testes that are primarily extracaecal. Siphodera ghanensis Fischthal & Thomas, 1968 is considered a species incertae sedis here based on significant morphological and ecological differences compared with species of Siphodera and Siphomutabilus n. g.     

Mathevotaenia niuguiniensis n. sp. (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae: Linstowiinae) from the water-rat Parahydromys asper (Thomas) in Papua New Guinea, with a list of species of Mathevotaenia Akumyan, 1946

A new species of cestode, Mathevotaenia niuguiniensis n. sp. (Anoplocephalidae: Linstowiinae), is described from the hydromyine rodent Parahydromys asper (Thomas) in Papua New Guinea. This is the third species of the genus reported from the Australasian region. The new species differs from all congeners in rodents by having an elongate cirrus-sac, which crosses the osmoregulatory canals and extends into the medulla, compared with a short, ovoid cirrus-sac which does not penetrate into the medulla in congeners. It differs from the known Australian species, M. antechini (Beveridge, 1977) and M. nyctophili (Hickman, 1954), found in dasyurid marsupials and bats respectively, by lacking a complex of anastomosing osmoregulatory canals in each segment. A list of all known species of Mathevotaenia Akumyan, 1946, their host genera, host families and geographical distribution is provided. New combinations proposed in this report are: M. dipodomi (Bienek & Grundmann, 1973) n. comb. (transferred from Schizorchodes Bienek & Grundman, 1973), M. genettae (Ortlepp, 1937) n.comb., M. mephitis (Skinker, 1935) n. comb., M. pedunculata (Chandler, 1952) n. comb., M. wallacei (Chandler, 1952) n. comb. (transferred from Oschmarenia Spasskii, 1951) and M. oedipomidatis (Stunkard, 1965) n. comb. (transferred from Paratriotaenia Stunkard, 1965).     

Molecular Characterization of Gregarines from Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) and Description of Psychodiella n. g. (Apicomplexa: Gregarinida)

ABSTRACT. Sand fly and mosquito gregarines have been lumped for a long time in the single genus Ascogregarina and on the basis of their morphological characters and the lack of merogony been placed into the eugregarine family Lecudinidae. Phylogenetic analyses performed in this study clearly demonstrated paraphyly of the current genus Ascogregarina and revealed disparate phylogenetic positions of gregarines parasitizing mosquitoes and gregarines retrieved from sand flies. Therefore, we reclassified the genus Ascogregarina and created a new genus Psychodiella to accommodate gregarines from sand flies. The genus Psychodiella is distinguished from all other related gregarine genera by the characteristic localization of oocysts in accessory glands of female hosts, distinctive nucleotide sequences of the small subunit rDNA, and host specificity to flies belonging to the subfamily Phlebotominae. The genus comprises three described species: the type species for the new genus— Psychodiella chagasi ( Adler and Mayrink 1961 ) n. comb., Psychodiella mackiei ( Shortt and Swaminath 1927 ) n. comb., and Psychodiella saraviae ( Ostrovska, Warburg, and Montoya-Lerma 1990 ) n. comb. Its creation is additionally supported by sequencing data from other gregarine species originating from the sand fly Phlebotomus sergenti . In the evolutionary context, both genera of gregarines from mosquitoes ( Ascogregarina ) and sand flies ( Psychodiella ) have a close relationship to neogregarines; the genera represent clades distinct from the other previously sequenced gregarines.