Description of Tylodelphys darbyi n. sp. (Trematoda: Diplostomidae) from the threatened Australasian crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus australis, Gould 1844) and linking of its life-cycle stages.

Abstract

Species of the genus Tylodelphys (Diplostomidae) have a cosmopolitan distribution. Metacercariae of these species infect the eye, brain, pericardial sac or body cavity of fish second intermediate hosts, and the adults are found in piscivorous birds of many orders. An unnamed species of Tylodelphys from the eyes of bullies (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) was characterized molecularly and morphologically as a metacercaria in a previous study, in which it was predicted that the adult of this species would be found in the Australasian crested grebe. Two specimens of this bird became available and specimens of the unnamed Tylodelphys species were, indeed, found in them, confirmed by identity of genetic sequence data. Found to differ morphologically from its congeners, the new species is here described as Tylodelphys darbyi n. sp. Three species are closest to the new species in morphology: Tylodelphys glossoides, T. immer and T. podicipina robrauschi. Compared with T. darbyi n. sp. these three species are slightly larger and possess longer eggs. Tylodelphys glossoides also differs in having a wider oral sucker and T. podicipina robrauschi in having comma- or kidney-shaped pseudosuckers and an ovary that reaches a larger size, along with higher upper limits for body width, hind body and sucker width, holdfast and oesophagus length, and pharynx, pseudosucker and testes length and width. Tylodelphys immer also differs from T. darbyi n. sp. in having a shorter ventral sucker and the largest pseudosuckers of any Tylodelphys species.