Tapeworms (Cestoda: Caryophyllidea), Parasites of Clarias batrachus (Pisces: Siluriformes) in the Indomalayan Region

Abstract

Revision of monozoic cestodes (Caryophyllidea) parasitic in commercially important walking catfish Clarias batrachus (L.) in tropical Asia (Indomalayan zoogeographical region) was carried out, based on the evaluation of newly collected material from India, Indonesia, and Thailand, as well as a study of type specimens. Instead of the 59 nominal taxa of 15 genera from 3 caryophyllidean families previously described, only 8 species of the Lytocestidae are considered to be valid: Bovienia indica (Niyogi, Gupta and Agarwal, 1982) n. comb.; Bovienia raipurensis (Satpute and Agarwal, 1980) Mackiewicz, 1994; Bovienia serialis (Bovien, 1926) Fuhrmann, 1931; Djombangia penetrans Bovien, 1926; Lucknowia microcephala (Bovien, 1926) n. comb.; Lytocestus indicus (Moghe, 1925) Woodland 1926; Pseudocaryophyllaeus ritai Gupta and Singh, 1983; and Pseudocaryophyllaeus tenuicollis (Bovien, 1926) n. comb. All valid species are redescribed and SEM photomicrographs of their scolices and photomicrographs of their eggs are provided for the first time. Crescentovitus Murhar, 1963, Heeradevina Srivastav and Khare, 2005, Pseudobatrachus Pathak and Srivastav, 2005, Pseudobilobulata Srivastav and Lohia, 2002, Pseudoclariasis Pathak, 2002, and Pseudoinverta Pathak, 2002 are invalidated and 50 nominal species are newly synonymized, including 4 species described from other fish hosts. Taxonomic status of the remaining caryophyllidean taxa reported from C. batrachus (at least 6 taxa) could not be clarified because of the unavailability of their original descriptions. A key to identification of caryophyllidean tapeworms parasitic in C. batrachus is provided. To avoid current inflation of descriptions of invalid taxa, researchers are strongly encouraged to work only with well-fixed material; damaged, decomposed, or strongly flattened specimens should not be used for taxonomic studies, and type specimens must always be deposited in internationally recognized collections.

A synoptic review of Caryophyllaeus Gmelin, 1790 (Cestoda: Caryophyllidea), parasites of cyprinid fishes

“…This synoptical review of the formally oldest genus of fish cestodes represents a follow-up of previous revisional studies focused on species-rich genera of the caryophyllidean cestodes such as Khawia, Paracaryophyllaeus Folia Parasitologica 2017, 64: 027 Kulakovskaya, 1961 andWenyonia Woodland, 1923, and on taxonomically complicated groups such as lytocestids from catfishes (Siluriformes) in the Oriental region (Ash et al 2011a,b, Schaeffner et al 2011. Similarly as in some of these studies, an integrated approach has been applied, i.e.…”

“…considerable reduction of the number of valid species, was observed in other caryophyllidean genera, especially those in the Oriental and Ethiopian regions (Ash et al 2011a,b, Schaeffner et al 2011). …”

“…Redescribed by Scholz et al (2011a) auriculatus (Kulakovskaya, 1961) Scholz, Oros, Choudhury, Brabec et Waeschenbach, 2015 Valid species PAL Originally described in Monobothrium Diesing, 1863 by Kulakovskaya (1961) balticus (Szidat, 1941) comb. n. Valid species PAL Originally described in Khawia Hsü, 1935 by Szidat (1941) brachycollis Janiszewska, 1953 Valid species PAL Redescribed by Barčák et al (2014) caspicus Annenkova-Chlopina, 1919 Syn.…”

“…Originally described in Monobothrium but Woodland (1923) synonymised this genus with Caryophyllaeus; placed the species in Glaridacris indicus Moghe, 1925 Lytocestus indicus (Moghe, 1925) Woodland, 1926 IND Redescribed by Ash et al (2011a) japonensis Yamaguti, 1934 Khawia japonensis (Yamaguti, 1934) fig. 4 wrote "C. mutabilis" niloticus Kulmatycki, 1928 Syn.…”

Seasonal Variation in Population Dynamics of Helminth Parasites in Clarias batrachus from Natural wetlands of Sylhet, Bangladesh

“…II. "Cestode of vertebrates" [19,20,21,22,23] and population dynamics of cestode parasites were determined by using following formulae.…”