Abstract
Nematode specimens of three species, Terranova scoliodontis (Baylis, 1931) (Ascaridida, Anisakidae), Echinocephalus sinensis Ko, 1975 and E. overstreeti Deardorff & Ko, 1983 (both Spirurida, Gnathostomatidae) were collected from the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier, the ray Aetobatus cf. narinari and the blotched fantail ray Taeniura meyeni, respectively, from the coastal waters of New Caledonia, South Pacific. Their examination, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), made it possible to obtain some new data on their morphology, e.g. in relation to the number and arrangement of male caudal papillae in T. scoliodontis and both Echinocephalus spp., the presence of ventral cuticular ornamentations in T. scoliodontis and the number of transverse spines on the cephalic bulb in Echinocephalus spp. All these species are reported for the first time from New Caledonian waters and G. cuvier is a new host species for T. scoliodontis. SEM examination of the fourth-stage larvae of E. overstreeti from the type-host showed the presence of anterior dorsal and ventral groups of minute spines on the cephalic bulb to be an important taxonomic feature for␣the interspecific distinction of Echinocephalus larvae and questions previous data on the occurrence of E. overstreeti larvae in many elasmobranch fishes and molluscs in Australian waters.
Résumé
Des Nématodes appartenant à trois espèces, Terranova scoliodontis (Baylis, 1931) (Ascaridida, Anisakidae), Echinocephalus sinensis Ko, 1975 et E. overstreeti Deardorff & Ko, 1983 (tous deux Spirurida, Gnathostomatidae) ont été collectés respectivement du requin tigre Galeocerdo cuvier et des raies Aetobatus cf. narinari et Taeniura meyeni, des eaux côtières de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Pacifique Sud. Leur étude, en particulier en microscopie électronique à balayage (MEB) a permis d’obtenir de nouvelles informations sur leur morphologie, par exemple sur le nombre et la disposition des papilles caudales mâles chez T. scoliodontis et␣les deux espèces d’Echinocephalus, la présence d’ornementations cuticulaires ventrales chez T. scoliodontis, et le nombre d’épines transversales sur le bulbe céphalique des Echinocephalus. Toutes ces espèces sont mentionnées pour la première fois des eaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie et G. cuvier est un nouvel hôte pour T.␣scoliodontis. L’examen au MEB de la larve de quatrième stade d’E. overstreeti, provenant de l’hôte-type, a montré que les groupes antérieurs et postérieurs de petites épines sur le bulbe céphalique sont un caractère taxonomique important pour la distinction interspécifique des larves d’Echinocephalus et met en doute des informations antérieures sur la présence de larves d’E. overstreeti chez de nombreux Élasmobranches et Mollusques des eaux d’Australie.
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Acknowledgements
Amandine Marie is thanked for her enthusiasm and skill in organising the team needed for the capture of a large tiger shark. Other students involved in fishing operations and the collection of parasites were Eric Bureau, Maya Robert, Chloé Journo, Nathaniel Cornuet, Isabelle Jollit, Sylvain Richer de Forges and Violette Justine; Marc Negrello, on board the R/V ‘Enzo’; and Nicole Fabre, Laurent Pascal and Augustin ‘Jean-Pierre’ Agourere are thanked for their help in shark fishing. Prof. Claude Chauvet (UNC, Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New Caledonia) and Jean-Louis Pagnon are gratefully thanked for collecting fish on board the R/V ‘Alcyon’. Soazig Le Mouellic (UNC) and Angelo di Matteo (IRD) provided technical help. Prof. Louis Euzet (Sète, France) provided help and advice during the parasite collection and preparation. Peter Last (CSIRO, Australia) gave advice on the identification of the spotted eagle ray. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy of the Institute of Parasitology, ASCR, at České Budějovice for their technical assistance and Irena Husáková from the Department of Helminthology of the same Institute for her help with the preparation of the illustrations. The authors are very grateful to Dr David Gibson, Natural History Museum, London for revising the English and his help with the literature. This study was partly supported by grant no. 524/06/0170 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and by the research project (Z60220518) of the Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
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Moravec, F., Justine, JL. Three nematode species from elasmobranchs off New Caledonia. Syst Parasitol 64, 131–145 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9034-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-006-9034-x