A new genus and three new species of dactylogyrids (Monogenea), gill parasites of the threadfin bass, Pronotogrammus multifasciatus Gill (Perciformes: Serranidae) in the Southeastern Pacific Ocean off Peru.

Abstract

Pronotogrammella n. g. is erected to accommodate Pronotogrammella boegeri n. sp. (type-species), Pr. scholzi n. sp. and Pr. multifasciatus n. sp. (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae). The new species are gill parasites of the threadfin bass Pronotogrammus multifasciatus Gill (Perciformes: Serranidae), a demersal teleost collected from off the coastal zone of Puerto Pizarro, Tumbes, Peru. Pronotogrammella n. g. is mainly characterised by having broadly fork-shaped dorsal anchors, which have an accessory anchor sclerite articulated to the tip of the superficial roots. Pronotogrammella n. g. is also characterised by having: (i) a tubular tapered-shaped male copulatory organ (MCO), filamentous distally, with a clockwise coil at distal end or not, lacking accessory piece; (ii) a dorsal bar with an anteromedial delicate umbelliform membrane supported by two processes; (iii) hooks with upright blunt thumb and uniform shank; (iv) a vaginal aperture dextrolateral; (v) a subquadrangular haptor, with inconspicuous lateral flaps and lacking haptoral reservoirs; and (vi) eye-spot or chromatic granules absent. Pronotogrammella boegeri n. sp. is characterised by its crosier-shaped MCO having a clockwise coil at distal end and by its dorsal bar with a straight anteromedial processes. Pronotogrammella scholzi n. sp. is typified by possessing of a dorsal bar with the anteromedial processes like cow horns, hoof-shaped deep roots of the dorsal anchors and a broader shaft of the MCO. Pronotogrammella multifasciatus n. sp. differs from all congeners by having a tubular MCO with twisted shaft and a base with a short and broad arm and by having an almost dumbbell-shaped ventral bar.