A revision of the Haploporinae Nicoll, 1914 (Digenea: Haploporidae) from mullets (Mugilidae): two new haploporine genera and a key to the genera of the subfamily

Abstract

Two new haploporine genera are established for parasites of mullets. Ragaia n. g. is erected for R. lizae n. sp. from Liza ramado in the Ebro Delta on the Mediterranean Coast of Spain. This new genus is distinguished by the unique combination of the following characters: a strongly muscular ventral sucker which is twice as large as the oral sucker; a large, muscular hermaphroditic sac similar in length to the ventral sucker; a saccular, thick-walled internal seminal vesicle which is larger than the external seminal vesicle; and the ovary and vitellarium located rather close to the posterior extremity. Pseudodicrogaster n. g. is erected to accommodate Dicrogaster japonica Machida, 1996, as P. japonica (Machida, 1996) n. comb., a parasite of Mugil cephalus L. off Fukaura, Japan. This genus is recognised on the basis of: the tubular condition of both the internal and external seminal vesicles, the latter being much shorter than the former; the sucker ratio; the massive pyriform hermaphroditic sac; the location of the testis; and the presence of two eye-spots in developed miracidia. A key to the nine recognised genera of the Haploporinae is presented.

Helminth species richness of introduced and native grey mullets (Teleostei: Mugilidae)

“…In the case of digeneans, identification keys were proposed by BlascoCosta et al [11][12][13][14][15]28]. When specimens of Dicrogaster spp.…”

“…Helminth fauna of these fish in the northeast Atlantic and in the Sea of Japan is well known [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Based on an extensive search of the literature and the Host-Parasite Database [19] Kostadinova [20] compiled the checklist of the metazoan parasites of L. haematocheilus throughout its distributional range that comprised 69 nominal species of helminth and ectoparasitic crustacean parasites on that time.…”

A revision of the Haploporinae Nicoll, 1914 (Digenea: Haploporidae) from mullets (Mugilidae): Dicrogaster Looss, 1902 and Forticulcita Overstreet, 1982

“…Our findings initiated a re-assessment of the status of the nominal species of Dicrogaster by means of a comparative morphological study based on the newly collected material and a critical evaluation of the published data. This also led to the erection of a new haploporine genus to accommodate D. japonica, since its morphological features do not agree with the generic diagnosis of Dicrogaster (see Blasco-Costa et al, 2009). This paper presents the description of a new species of Forticulcita and redescriptions of D. perpusilla and D. contracta, multivariate analyses which discriminate these three Mediterranean forms and keys to the recognised species of both genera.…”

A revision of the Haploporinae Nicoll, 1914 (Digenea: Haploporidae) from mullets (Mugilidae): Haploporus Looss, 1902 and Lecithobotrys Looss, 1902

“…However, the location of some uterine loops in the forebody, in combination with the terminal, funnelshaped oral sucker with sensory papillae around the orifice, bears no resemblance to any of the currently recognised haploporine genera (see Overstreet & Curran, 2005;Blasco-Costa et al, 2009b). In fact, H. musculosaccus departs morphologically from the complex of species described from Valamugil spp.…”

“…apparently do not fit the historical or current (derived from the features characteristic for the type-species, H. benedeni) generic diagnosis of Haploporus, we conclude that they have been assigned to the wrong genus. However, because of the features listed above, they do not appear to correspond to any recognised haploporine generic diagnosis (see also Overstreet & Curran, 2005;Blasco-Costa et al, 2009b). These species are therefore retained here in the Haploporinae but as incertae sedis with respect to their generic affiliation.…”