Philometra floridensis sp. n. (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the ovary of red drum Sciaenops ocellatus (Osteichthyes: Sciaenidae) off the coast of Florida, USA

Abstract

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.

Two new gonad-infecting Philometra species (Nematoda: Philometridae) from the marine fish Lutjanus vitta (Perciformes: Lutjanidae) off New Caledonia

“…Whereas some gonad-infecting species of Philometra have a smooth gubernaculum, sometimes provided with a conspicuous, reflected dorsal barb on the distal tip (e.g., P. carolinensis Moravec, de Buron et Roumillat, 2006 and P. floridensis -see Moravec et al 2006, 2010a, Moravec and de Buron 2009, the following ten species were described to possess marked dorsal lamellalike structures on the distal part of the gubernaculum, resembling thus P. brevicollis: P. charlestonensis Moravec, de Buron, Baker et González-Solís, 2008, P. cyanopodi, P. genypteri Moravec, Chávez et Oliva, 2011, P. lateolabracis (Yamaguti, 1935, P. madai Quiazon, Yoshinaga et Ogawa, 2008, P. nemipteri Luo, 2001, P. priacanthi, P. saltatrix Ramachandran, 1973, P. sarawa Quiazon, Yoshinaga et Ogawa, 2008and P. sciaenae Yamaguti, 1941(Moravec and Justine 2008, Moravec et al 2008a,b, 2011, Quiazon et al 2008a. However, in all these species the transverse lamella-like structures cover the entire dorsal surface of the gubernaculum distal end, whereas these lamellar structures form two dorsolateral margins demarcating a wide smooth field between the margins in P. brevicollis.…”

Philometra dissimilis n. sp. from the ovary of Johnius belangerii (Sciaenidae) and other new records of philometrids (Nematoda: Philometridae) from fishes of the Bay of Bengal, India

“…To date, the following six nominal gonad-infecting species of Philometra have been reported from fi shes of the family Sciaenidae: P. carolinensis Moravec, Yamaguti, 1941 from Pennahia argentata (Houttuyn) off Japan (Yamaguti, 1941;Moravec et al, 1998Moravec et al, , 2006Moravec et al, , 2010Quiazon et al, 2008a;Moravec & de Buron, 2009Moravec & Manoharan, 2013;Moravec & Diggles, 2014b;Moravec & Barton, 2015). Moreover, P. lateolabracis (Yamaguti, 1935), a specifi c parasite of the Lateolabracidae, was reported from fi shes belonging to six genera of the Sciaenidae (see Moravec, 2006;Quiazon et al, 2008b), but, in the view of the paper by Quiazon et al (2008b), the nematodes from these hosts were evidently misidentifi ed.…”

Philometrid nematodes infecting fishes from the Everglades National Park, Florida, USA, with description of two new species

“…according to , there are 86 species of Philometra considered to be valid. However, an additional six congeneric species have been described since (Moravec and de Buron 2009a,b, Moravec and Justine 2009, Moravec and Bakenhaster 2010. consequently, at present this genus includes a total of 92 species.…”

“…two species, P. beninensis and P. pinnicola, are reported from perciform fishes (Polydactylidae and Serranidae) from off the african atlantic coast and off Japan, respectively (Yamaguti 1935(Yamaguti , 1941(Yamaguti , obiekezie 1986 and anders 1991, obiekezie et al 1992). only three species were described from the western atlantic ocean, of which P. overstreeti and P. cynoscionis are parasites of the pleuronectiform fish Paralichthys lethostigma Jordan et Gilbert (Paralichthyidae) and the perciform fish Cynoscion nebulosus (cuvier) (sciaenidae) in brackishwaters (estuarine systems) of south carolina and the Mississippi sound, Usa (Blaylock andoverstreet 1999, Moravec andde Buron 2006) and in estuarine systems of south carolina (Moravec et al 2006), respectively, whereas P. diplectri has recently been described from the marine perciform fish Diplectrum formosum (linnaeus) (serranidae) (Moravec and Bakenhaster 2010).…”

“…of this group of Philometra spp., the male is known only for P. diplectri, the parasite of the serranid fish Diplectrum formosum in the Gulf of Mexico (Moravec and Bakenhaster 2010). the males of this species are 2.39-3.25 (vs.…”