A new polystomatid (Monogenea, Polystomatidae) from the mouth of the North American freshwater turtle Pseudemys nelsoni.

Louis Du Preez,Michelle Van Rooyen

doi:10.3897/zookeys.539.6108

Abstract

Based on material collected from Pseudemys nelsoni (Reptilia: Chelonia: Emydidae) during a parasite survey of the herpetofauna around Gainesville, Florida, USA, Polystomoides nelsoni sp. n. is described as a new polystome species. This parasite was found in the oral and pharyngeal region of the host. In a sample of nine Pseudemys nelsoni, three specimens were found to release polystome eggs. One turtle was euthanized and dissected and found to be infected in the oral region with 19 specimens belonging to an as-yet-unknown Polystomoides. This is only the fifth Polystomoides recorded from the Nearctic realm. This species is distinguished from known species by a combination of characteristics including marginal hooklet morphology, body length and haptor dimensions.

Highlights

Monogeneans are predominantly single host fish parasites, polystomatid flatworms (Monogenea, Polystomatidae) radiated onto the tetrapods and are known from a diverse range of hosts, including the Australian lungfish, amphibians, freshwater turtles and the hippopotamus (Raharivololoniaina et al 2011)
Specimens were collected from Lake Griffin, Lake Lochloosa, Lake Orange, and ponds at the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) research facility in Gainesville
Chelonian polystomes have been fairly well studied in the USA, with 11 polystomes known from various freshwater turtle hosts (Du Preez and Lim 2000, Morrison and Du Preez 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Monogeneans are predominantly single host fish parasites, polystomatid flatworms (Monogenea, Polystomatidae) radiated onto the tetrapods and are known from a diverse range of hosts, including the Australian lungfish, amphibians, freshwater turtles and the hippopotamus (Raharivololoniaina et al 2011). Of the 24 currently known polystome genera (Du Preez et al 2014) three exclusively parasitize turtles, namely Polystomoides Ward, 1917, Polystomoidella Price, 1939 and Neopolystoma Price, Copyright L. Du Preez & Michelle Van Rooyen / ZooKeys 539: 1–9 (2015)

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Conclusion