Gymnurahemecus bulbosus gen. et sp. nov. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) infecting smooth butterfly rays, Gymnura micrura (Myliobatiformes: Gymnuridae) in the northern Gulf of Mexico, with a taxonomic key and further evidence for monophyly of chondrichthyan blood flukes

Neotropical Turtle Blood Flukes: Two New Genera and Species from the Amazon River Basin with a Key to Genera and Comments on a Marine-Derived Parasite Lineage in South America

“…obs.). It has a ventral sucker and U-shaped ceca, but those are features common to many blood fluke genera, including schistosomes and most early branching fish blood flukes (Aporocotylidae Odhner, 1912) (see Ore´lis-Ribeiro et al, 2013Warren et al, 2017Warren et al, , 2019. As a result, a detailed morphological comparison of this species must await the study of additional whole mounts.…”

“…The discussion above omits detail about the molluscan and polychaete intermediate hosts and their impact on TBF diversification. Fish blood flukes seem to clade by the intermediate host group they infect, i.e., flukes infecting chondrichthyan use bivalves; those of many freshwater ray-finned fishes use snails; and those of marine ray-finned fishes use polychaetes (Ore´lis-Ribeiro et al, 2014;Cribb et al, 2017aCribb et al, , 2017bWarren et al, 2019). Freshwater TBFs infect snails of Planorbidae, Physidae, and Ampullariidae, whereas marine TBFs infect those of Fissurellidae (limpets) and Vermetidae (worm snails) as well as polychaetes (De Buron et al, 2018).…”

“…No robust example of independent acquisitions of freshwater intermediate or definitive hosts yet exists among the fish blood flukes. The blood flukes of sharks, rays, and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) are monophyletic and seem to be the earliest branching lineage, with separate lineages for the blood flukes of early branching ray-finned fishes (Acipenseriformes) and those infecting marine ray-finned fishes (Ore´lis-Ribeiro et al, 2014;Warren et al, 2019). In this regard, the fish blood flukes appear to have originated in marine hosts and invaded freshwater once.…”

First elucidation of a blood fluke (Electrovermis zappum n. gen., n. sp.) life cycle including a chondrichthyan or bivalve

“…Another innominate species infects the heart of smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata Latham, 1794 in the Gulf of Mexico (Bakenhaster et al, 2018), and that species is currently being described by us (MBW and SAB, in prep). Only Chimaerohemecus trondheimensis Van der Land, 1967 , Gymnurahemecus bulbosus Warren et al, 2019 , and Ogawaia glaucostegi Cutmore et al, 2018 are represented by nucleotide sequence data (Table 2).…”

“…Only Chimaerohemecus trondheimensis Van der Land, 1967 , Gymnurahemecus bulbosus Warren et al, 2019 , and Ogawaia glaucostegi Cutmore et al, 2018 are represented by nucleotide sequence data (Table 2).…”