No abstract

Seventeen of twenty-three species of groupers collected from the western Atlantic Ocean and adjacent waters were infected with 19 identified species (13 new) of Pseudorhabdosynochus Yamaguti, 1958 (Dactylogyridea, Diplectanidae); specimens of the Spanish flag Gonioplectrus hispanus, coney Cephalopholis fulva, marbled grouper Dermatolepis inermis, mutton hamlet Alphestes afer, and misty grouper Hyporthodus mystacinus were not infected; the yellowmouth grouper Mycteroperca interstitialis and yellowfin grouper Mycteroperca venenosa were infected with unidentified species of Pseudorhabdosynochus; the Atlantic creolefish Paranthias furcifer was infected with an unidentified species of Diplectanidae that could not be accommodated in Pseudorhabdosynochus. The following species of Pseudorhabdosynochus are described or redescribed based entirely or in part on new collections: Pseudorhabdosynochus americanus (Price, 1937) Kritsky & Beverley-Burton, 1986 from Atlantic goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara; Pseudorhabdosynochus yucatanensis Vidal-Martínez, Aguirre-Macedo & Mendoza-Franco, 1997 and Pseudorhabdosynochus justinella n. sp. from red grouper Epinephelus morio; Pseudorhabdosynochus kritskyi Dyer, Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1995 from gag Mycteroperca microlepis; Pseudorhabdosynochus capurroi Vidal-Martínez & Mendoza-Franco, 1998 from black grouper Mycteroperca bonaci; Pseudorhabdosynochus hyphessometochus n. sp. from Mycteroperca interstitialis; Pseudorhabdosynochus sulamericanus Santos, Buchmann & Gibson, 2000 from snowy grouper Hyporthodus niveatus and Warsaw grouper Hyporthodus nigritus (new host record); Pseudorhabdosynochus firmicoleatus n. sp. from yellowedge grouper Hyporthodus flavolimbatus and snowy grouper H. niveatus; Pseudorhabdosynochus mcmichaeli n. sp., Pseudorhabdosynochus contubernalis n. sp., and Pseudorhabdosynochus vascellum n. sp. from scamp Mycteroperca phenax; Pseudorhabdosynochus meganmarieae n. sp. from graysby Cephalopholis cruentata; Pseudorhabdosynochus beverleyburtonae (Oliver, 1984) Kritsky & Beverley-Burton, 1986 from dusky grouper Mycteroperca marginata; Pseudorhabdosynochus mizellei n. sp. from red hind Epinephelus guttatus; Pseudorhabdosynochus williamsi n. sp. from rock hind Epinephelus adscensionis; Pseudorhabdosynochus bunkleywilliamsae n. sp. from Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus; Pseudorhabdosynochus mycteropercae n. sp. from tiger grouper Mycteroperca tigris; and Pseudorhabdosynochus tumeovagina n. sp. from speckled hind Epinephelus drummondhayi. Pseudorhabdosynochus woodi n. sp. from red hind Epinephelus guttatus is described based on specimens from the US National Parasite Collection (USNPC). Drawings of the haptoral and copulatory sclerites of the type specimens in the USNPC of Pseudorhabdosynochus monaensis Dyer, Williams & Bunkley-Williams, 1994 from rock hind Epinephelus adscensionis are presented. Finally, a note confirming Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli Yamaguti, 1958 rather than its senior synonym Pseudorhabdosynochus epinepheli (Yamaguti, 1938) Kritsky & Beverley...

Little is known of the diversity of the monogenean parasites infesting deep-sea groupers, and there is even less information available about their geographic distributions within the ranges of their hosts. To improve our understanding of these host-parasite relationships we conducted parasitological evaluations of the deep-water Haifa grouper Hyporthodus haifensis from the southern Mediterranean off Tunisia and Libya. We collected more than one species of diplectanid monogeneans from this host, but among these only one dominant species was abundant. This proved to be morphologically very similar to Pseudorhabdosynochus sulamericanus Santos, Buchmann & Gibson, 2000, a species originally described from the congeneric host H. niveatus off Brazil and also recorded from H. niveatus and H. nigritus off Florida. Here, we conducted a morphological comparison between newly collected specimens and those previously deposited in museum collections by other authors. Further, we used COI barcoding to ascertain the specific identity of the three host species to better elucidate the circumstances that might explain the unexpectedly broad distribution of P. sulamericanus. We assigned our specimens from H. haifensis to P. sulamericanus primarily on the basis of morphological characteristics of the sclerotized vagina. We also noted morphological characteristics of eastern and western Atlantic specimens that are not clearly described or not given in previous descriptions and so prepared a redescription of the species. We confirmed, by COI barcoding, that no sister-species relationships were evident among the three hosts of P. sulamericanus. Our observation that P. sulamericanus infects unrelated host species with putatively allopatric distributions was unexpected given the very limited dispersive capabilities and the high degree of host specificity common to members of Pseudorhabdosynochus. This transatlantic distribution raises questions with regard to phylogeography and assumptions about the allopatry of Atlantic grouper species from the Americas and Afro-Eurasia. Here, we propose some hypothetical explanations for our findings.

A new nematode species, Philometra floridensis sp. n. (Philometridae), is described from male and female specimens found in the ovary of red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus (Linnaeus) (Sciaenidae, Perciformes), from the Gulf of Mexico off Treasure Island, Florida, USA. Based on light and scanning electron microscopy examination, the new species differs from most other gonad-infecting Philometra spp. in having a smooth gubernaculum with a distinct dorsal tooth on the distal tip. The new species is most similar to P. carolinensis Moravec, de Buron & Roumillat, 2006, but differs in length and shape of spicules. It can be distinguished from P. carolinensis and other species with unknown males, by the markedly greater body length of gravid females (up to about 100 cm). Philometra floridensis is the third valid gonad-infecting species of Philometra reported from sciaenids.

No abstract