The knowledge that entobdelline (capsalid) monogeneans formerly in Entobdella fall into two natural groupings provides the background to this paper. It is proposed to retain Entobdella for E. hippoglossi (type species), E. pngetensis and E. soleae from teleost flatfishes and to erect Neoentobdella gen. nov. for those parasites formerly in Entobdella but infecting elasmobranch flatfishes (mostly dasyatid stingrays but one report from a rhinobatid host). Neoentobdella diadema comb. nov. is designated type species for the new genus, which also includes N. apiocolpos comb, nov., N. australis comb, nov., N. bumpusii comb. nov. and two new species, N. natans sp. nov. and N. parvitesticulata sp. nov. from the dasyatid stingrays Pastinachus sephen and Hifnantura fai, respectively, caught off the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. A prominent feature of all Neoentobdella species is the possession of anterior adhesive pads with transverse rays, resembling a diadem, but the close relationship between N. natans and N. parvitesticulata is underlined by the presence in both species of a muscular pad armed with microsclerites inside the genital atrium and elaborate fleshy lips and folds on the dorsal surface near the common genital opening. Adults of both species are also able to swim. The validity of Pseudoentobdella pacifica is confirmed. Entobdellinae Bychowsky, 1957 is revised to accommodate the recently established Listwcephalos, as well as the proposal of Neoentobdella.
We made a comparative anatomical study of entobdelline monogenean skin parasites from the blotched fantail ray, Taeniura meyeni (= T. melanospila) from public aquaria and fish-holding facilities distributed widely across the western Pacific Ocean. These facilities were located in Australia (Mooloolaba, southern Queensland; Cairns, northern Queensland), Taiwan and Japan. The capture localities of the aquarium fishes are unknown to us, with the exception of the individual fish from northern Queensland which came from Sudbury Reef, a local inshore reef. Entobdellines from southern Queensland differed morphologically from those from northern Queensland and Taiwan and the 2 new monogenean species are described and named Neoentobdella garneri sp. nov. and N. taiwanensis sp. nov., respectively. We determined that an entobdelline collected by Dyer and co-workers from a ray identified as T. melanospila (= T. meyeni) from an aquarium in Okinawa, Japan and identified by them as Entobdella squamula (Heath, 1902) Johnston, 1929 was misidentified and is tentatively assigned to N. taiwanensis sp. nov. The male copulatory organ of each new species resembles a penis, but evidence that these organs are eversible like a cirrus is presented. Caution is advised in deciding whether the male copulatory organs of capsalids may function as a penis or as a cirrus and we suggest that possession of a penis versus a cirrus may not necessarily indicate wide evolutionary divergence. In N. garneri, spermatophores consist of a sausage-shaped capsule and a long hollow stalk. A spermatophore received from a donor is anchored in the vagina by means of the stalk, with the capsule protruding outside the body.
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