Invasive species are a major threat to biodiversity. In Madagascar, one quarter of freshwater fish fauna consist of introduced species. The introduction of non-native species affects native biota by means of direct interactions but also through indirect interactions including those mediated by parasites, as parasites are usually co-introduced with their hosts. Almost nothing is known about the parasites co-introduced with their fish hosts into Madagascar and their potential impact on native endemic fish fauna. We studied the metazoan parasites of native and introduced cichlid fishes (and some non-cichlids) in the northern part of Madagascar.Using parasite data we evaluated the effect of fish introduced from mainland Africa on native Malagasy cichlid fauna.We documented the co-introduction into Madagascar of parasite species from mainland Africa and also probably from Eurasia. Malagasy cichlids and some other species living in sympatry with non-native cichlids acted as competent hosts for generalist parasites and also for host-specific parasites of African mainland cichlids. However, African mainland cichlids were not susceptible to infection by parasites specific to Malagasy cichlids. The different compositions of parasite communities and infection parameters in endemic and non-native cichlids in the regions investigated may be potentially explained by the different sources and timings of fish introductions. In addition, native endemic parasite fauna even seem to be outcompeted by introduced parasites, which cross the barriers of host specificity. The transmission of non-native parasites associated with the introduction of non-native freshwater fishes may represent a serious risk to endemic freshwater fish and parasite fauna in Madagascar.

The tapeworm species Bertiella satyri from a semi-wild Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii: Ponginae) is redescribed and the sequence of its 18S rDNA is presented. The tapeworms parasitizing the genera Pan, Pongo, Homo and Hylobates from Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and from Muséum d´Histoire Naturelle, Genève are also presented. The validity of B. satyri is confirmed. B. satyri (BSA) differs from the most similar species Bertiella studeri (BSTU) in the following characteristics: (1) testes number, BSTU 300-400; BSA 116-124, (2) genital opening, BSTU regularly alternate; BSA irregularly alternate, (3) Cirrus-sac, BSTU short, 0.250-0.320, does not reach excretory ducts; BSA long, 0.630 × 0.495, reaches excretory ducts, (4) egg size, BSTU 0.053-0.060; BSA 0.030-0.051, (5) host BSTU Pan troglodytes, Africa; BSA Pongo pygmaeus, P. abelii, Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra). Both species differ according to our material and the name B. satyri (Blanchard, 1891) is resurrected.

An annotated list of larvae (metacestodes) of gryporhynchid tapeworms (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea) from freshwater fishes in Africa is provided with numerous new host and geographical records. Newly collected materials from Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe practically double the total number of species reported from African fish so far. We confirm the occurrence of 16 species (five unidentified to the species level and most likely representing new taxa) belonging to the genera Amirthalingamia Bray, 1974 (1 species), Cyclustera Fuhrmann, 1901 (2 species), Dendrouterina Fuhrmann, 1912 (1 species), Neogryporhynchus Baer & Bona, 1960 (1 species), Paradilepis Hsü, 1935 (4 species), Parvitaenia Burt, 1940 (5 species), and Valipora Linton, 1927 (2 species). Additionally, metacestodes of four unidentified species of Paradilepis and Parvitaenia are reported from fish for the first time. Rostellar hooks of all species are illustrated and their measurements are provided together with a host-parasite list. The molecular phylogenetic analysis based on partial LSU rDNA sequences offers the first insight into the internal phylogenetic relationships within the family. Together with the morphological observations, the present study provides a taxonomic baseline for future studies on this largely neglected, but widely distributed and relatively frequent, group of parasites of African fishes, including economically important cichlids like tilapias and cyprinids.

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SummaryDetails about the record of ajuvenile mermithid roundworm parasitizing the bark spiderCaerostris sumatrana Strand,1915 from Thailand are presented.The morphology and ecology of both organisms is discussed. Morphological features suggest this juvenile nematode belongs to the genus cf.­ Aranimermis. Due to the sub adult stage of parasite, identification to species-level was not possible. This first report of a nematode infection in C. sumatrana with several recent findings from other studies significantly adds to the current inventory of mermithids parasitizng spiders. Moreover, our finding is among the first record of this host-parasite interaction from Southeast Asia.

A new nematode species, Subulura mackoi n. sp., is described based on specimens from the colon and caecum of the Eurasian Scops Owl Otus scops (L.) (Aves: Strigiformes) from the Czech Republic, collected in 2011. Males are characterized by 10 pairs of caudal papillae, a single papilla on the upper lip of the cloaca, and small unequal spiculae; female distinguishing features are body length, distance of the vulva from the anterior extremity, tail length, and egg dimension.Analysis of the zoogeographical distribution and host specialization (in the bird orders) of 68 valid species from the genus Subulura Molin, 1860 shows significantly high species diversity in the tropical zones. Only one species, S. brumpti, is a cosmopolitan parasite of Gallus gallus f. domestica and other domesticated gallinaceous birds. Zoogeographical-host interactions may be utilized to support the identification of morphospecies of the genus Subulura.

A West African species of gecko, Tarentola parvicarinata Joger (Gekkonidae), collected in the Niokolo Koba National Park in East Senegal is a new host species for the nematode Parapharyngodon echinatus (Rudolphi, 1819). Fifty one specimens of P. echinatus were studied under a light microscope and thirteen specimens were studied for the first time by a scanning electron microscope. The main differences between P. echinatus and other African species, especially Parapharyngodon micipsae (Seurat, 1917), were in the shape of annules on body cuticle, broad lateral alae and their terminations, the shape of the distal extremity of the spicule and number of outgrowths at the anterior cloacal lip. For the purposes of DNA characterization, partial sequence of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rRNA) was obtained from two specimens of P. echinatus. This is the first published sequence of a species from the family Pharyngodonidae.

First-stage larvae of camallanid nematodes Procamallanus (Procamallanus) laeviconchus (Wedl, 1862) and Procamallanus (Procamallanus) sp. from naturally infected Distichodus niloticus (Hasselquist) and Clarias gariepinus (Burchell), respectively, from Lake Turkana, Kenya (new geographical records) are described, being for the first time studied by scanning electron microscopy. Larvae of both species are characterised by the presence of a dorsal cephalic tooth, four submedian cephalic papillae and a pair of amphids, and by the elongate tail with several terminal digit-like processes. The latter formations probably serve for the attachment of larvae to the substrate in water when the larvae attract copepod intermediate hosts by their movements; these structures, especially their numbers, may be of taxonomic importance in camallanid nematodes.The nematode genus Procamallanus Baylis, 1923 contains many species parasitizing freshwater, brackish-water and marine fishes and, less often, amphibians. The following five subgenera of Procamallanus were recognised by Moravec and Thatcher (1997) (see also Gibbons 2010): Procamallanus Baylis, 1923, Spirocamallanus Olsen, 1952, Spirocamallanoides Moravec et Sey, 1988, Punctocamallanus Moravec et Scholz, 1991 and Denticamallanus Moravec et Thatcher, 1997. Of them, only representatives of Procamallanus and Spirocamallanus are known from the African continent (totally 7 species), whereby P. (P.) laeviconchus (Wedl, 1862) (the type species of the genus) has so far been the only species of the former subgenus reported from freshwater fishes in Africa. This is also the only African Procamallanus species in which the life cycle has hitherto been studied and the first-stage larvae described (Moravec 1975).While redescribing P. laeviconchus from Synodontis spp. (congeneric with its type host) in Botswana (including SEM study), Moravec and Van As (2004) drew attention to the fact that this species was reported from about 30 fish species belonging to seven families and the specimens often exhibited morphological differences; they considered the presence of an unusually lobed circumoral flange a characteristic feature of P. laeviconchus, already illustrated by Wedl (1862) in the original description.The first-stage larvae used in this study were obtained from the uteri of broken nematode females dissected out from the stomachs of Distichodus niloticus (Hasselquist) (Citharinidae, Characiformes) and Clarias gariepinus (Burchell) (Clariidae, Siluriformes), collected in Lake Turkana, north-western Kenya, in 2008 and 2009. Since the adult specimens from the former host were morphometrically in accordance with the redescription of P. laeviconchus given by Moravec and Van As (2004), including the presence of a characteristic circumoral flange (Fig. 1), they were assigned to this species. In contrast, the morphology of adult specimens from the latter host was somewhat different and the characteristic circumoral flange was missing (Fig. 8); for the time being, this form is designated ...