Posterior Margin Of Ventral Sucker Research Articles

Alloglossidium fonti sp. nov. (Digenea, Macroderoididae) from black bullheads in Minnesota with molecular differentiation from congeners and resurrection of Alloglossidium kenti

AbstractAlloglossidium fonti sp. nov. is described based on specimens from black bullheads (Ameiurus melas) collected from several localities in northwestern Minnesota. The new species is morphologically closest to A. corti and A. geminum. These two species were also found in the same region as A. fonti sp. nov. and sometimes in the same individual fish. Examination of numerous genetically marked specimens has demonstrated that the most reliable distinguishing feature among the three species is the position of anterior margin of the vitelline fields. In the new species they are situated at the level of anterior margin of ventral sucker while in A. corti it is at the level of intestinal bifurcation or even further anteriorly, and in A. geminum it is at the level of posterior margin of ventral sucker or further posteriorly. The new species has a relatively smaller cirrus sac than A. geminum. Despite rather minor, albeit stable morphological differences, the molecular data strongly supported the status of A. fonti sp. nov. as a new species. Moreover, molecular data and morphological examination of new material suggested that A. kenti, earlier synonymized with A. corti, is a valid species that is resurrected here. Comparison of 2420 base long sequences of nuclear rDNA (partial 18S, complete ITS region, and partial 28S) obtained from multiple specimens of all 4 species collected in Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Mississippi, showed essentially no intraspecific variability (except for 1 base difference in the ITS2 region of A. fonti sp. nov.), but has demonstrated pronounced interspecific differences. The new species was not found in the four examined catfish species from the Red River of the North (on the border between North Dakota and Minnesota) and neighbouring North Dakota.

A new gorgoderid trematode of the genus Phyllodistomum (Digenea: Gorgoderidae) from Clarias gariepinus (Actinopterygii: Clariidae) in Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Phyllodistomum tana sp. nov. is described from the ureters of Clarias gariepinus from Lake Tana, Ethiopia. This species is distinguished from its congeners in Africa in having an oblong body shape, transverse loops of the uterus between the posterior margin of ventral sucker and the vitelline follicles, and the localization exclusively in the ureters of C. gariepinus. The new species differs from P. bavuri and P. vanderwaali in the larger size of body, the position of the testes with respect to the ovary and with each other, the lobed vitelline follicles and the sucker ratio.

A new trematode species parasitizing the catfish Hoplosternum littorale (Osteichthyes, Callichthyidae) from Paraná River, Brazil, with an emendation of the diagnosis of Magnivitellinum (Trematoda, Macroderoididae)

AbstractMagnivitellinum corvitellinum sp. nov. is a parasite from the intestine of tamboatá Hoplosternum littorale, a freshwater catfish from Paraná River, Brazil. This species has an elongate body, a small cirrus-sac, testes in the posterior half of the body and well-developed follicular vitellines. It differs from the only other species in the genus, M. simplex, in having tegumental spines along the body, ventral sucker distinctly bigger than oral sucker, oesophagus absent and vitellaria extending from posterior margin of ventral sucker to near posterior extremity of body. An emendation of the generic diagnosis is proposed in view of the presence of tegumental spines along the body, absence of oesophagus, relative size of ventral and oral suckers and uterus covering caeca from the level of ventral sucker to the end of caeca. This is the fourth trematode species recorded parasitizing Hoplosternum littorale.

A new species of Intromugil Overstreet & Curran, 2005 (Digenea, Haploporidae) from the Brazilian marine fish Mugil liza Valenciennes (Perciformes, Mugilidae)

Intromugil annakohnae n. sp. is described based on specimens recovered from the intestine of Mugil liza Valenciennes (Mugilidae) from the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Intromugil annakohnae n. sp. differs from I. mugilicolus by having a smaller body (0.70–1.90mm compared to 2.54–2.77mm), larger eggs (82–105 x 45–72 compared to 60–80 x 40), and by the presence of vitelline follicles in the post-testicular space. It differs from I. simonei in the size of body, being smaller (0.70–1.90mm by 0.30–0.62mm compared to 2.11–2.56mm by 0.80–0.91mm), in the shape of oral sucker, which is subterminal and rounded in the new species, instead of terminal and cupshaped, and in I. annakohnae n. sp. the vitellarium extending further anteriorly beyond the testis, reaching the posterior margin of ventral sucker in some specimens, rather than surrounding the testis as in I. simonei.