Abstract
Ergasilus trygonophilus sp. nov. is described from freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygon spp. and Plesiotrygon iwamae Rosa, Castello & Thorson, 1987) from the state of Para, Brazil. The new species differs from all known species of Ergasilus Nordman, 1832 from Brazilian waters by possessing: (1) an elongate bullet-shaped cephalosome; (2) antennule setal formula 1: 10: 4: 4: 2 + 1 ae: 6 + 1 ae; (3) maxillule bearing two distal setae; and (4) terminal endopodal segment of leg 1 with rosette-like array of blunt spinules. This is the first species of a freshwater stingray Ergasilus reported from Brazil.
Highlights
Species of Ergasilus Nordman, 1832 are parasitic copepods found world-wide in aquatic environments, and are considered an important plague of pisciculture (THATCHER 2006)
The parasite fauna of Potamotrygonidae is unusual because it is represented by typically marine taxa – (Acanthobothrium van Beneden, 1849, Anindobothrium Marques, Brooks & Lasso, 2001, Echinocephalus Molin, 1858, Rhinebothrium Linton, 1890 –; some are found only in Potamotrygonidae (Megapriapus Golvan, 1957, Paraheteronchocotyle Mayes, Brooks & Thorson, 1981, Paraoncomegas Campbell, Marques, & Ivanov, 1999, Potamotrygonocestus Brooks & Thorson, 1976, Rinebothroides Mayes, Brooks & Thorson, 1981); whereas others are found in teleosteans
The present paper describes the first species of Ergasilus known from Brazilian freshwater stingrays
Summary
Potamotrygonids were captured with throw nets and long lines in the Igarapé do Urubu, municipality of Cachoeira do Arari (1o00’16.22”S, 48o57’28.8”W) and Marajo Bay, municipality of Colares (0o55’47.22”S, 48o17’30.68”W), state of Pará, Brazil. Copepod parasites were removed from the gill filaments with dissecting needles and fixed in 70% alcohol They were transported to a laboratory of the Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, where permanent slide preparations were made using the phenol-balsam method explained in THATCHER (2006). Proximal endopodal segment slightly curved, longer than medial and distal endopodal segments combined, armed with short seta near mid-point on projection of inner margin. Leg 1 (Fig. 6) with first exopodal segment bearing a single spine on outer distal margin; second exopodal segment with a single, median, inner plumose seta; first seta of third exopodal segment falciform, semipinnate, four plumose setae on inner margin, two short plumose setae on outer margin, apical spine serrated on outer margin, plumose on inner margin; first endopodal segment elongate with long plumose seta near dis-
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