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Skoulekia erythrini n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae): a parasite of Pagellus erythrinus (L.) (Perciformes: Sparidae) from the western Mediterranean with an amendment of the generic diagnosis

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Abstract

A new aporocotylid, Skoulekia erythrini n. sp., is described from the heart, cephalic kidney and gill blood vessels of the common pandora Pagellus erythrinus (L.) collected from several localities of the western Mediterranean off Spain. The new species differs from the type- and only species of the genus, S. meningialis Alama-Bermejo, Montero, Raga & Holzer, 2011 in possessing a symmetrical body (vs laterally curved), short tegumental spines (3–4 vs 7–10 µm) without hooked ends, diffuse (vs conspicuous) oesophageal gland-cells, a relatively longer oesophagus, a testis that is shorter in relation to body length and a much smaller seminal vesicle (17–34 × 10–26 vs 33–101 × 27–97 μm). Elongated ellipsoidal eggs of S. erythrini n. sp. were found trapped in gill vessels in histological sections. Phylogenetic analyses based on partial 28S rDNA and ITS2 sequences supported the placement of the new species within Skoulekia and the close relationships of this genus with Psettarium Goto & Ozaki, 1929 and Pearsonellum Overstreet & Køie, 1986. Skoulekia meningialis is described from a new sparid host, Diplodus puntazzo (Walbaum), collected off Santa Pola, Spain. The new morphological data for the two Skoulekia spp. and a re-examination of three paratypes of S. meningialis pinpointed features amending both the description of S. meningialis and the generic diagnosis of Skoulekia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Maria Víllora-Montero (University of Valencia) for her help in the laboratory analyses.

Funding

This study was funded by the Valencian Local Government (projects PROMETEO 2015-018 and ISIC/2012/003) and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spanish Government [MINECO AGL2015-68405-R (FEDER) and AGL 2010-20892] and partially supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project ECIP P505/12/G112). A part of the samples was obtained in framework of the MAPUCHE project supported by the BBVA foundation (BIOCON 06_35 project (ref. 104/07)). JP-A benefits from a PhD student grant “Atracció de talent” of the University of Valencia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science Park, Marine Zoology Unit, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, C/Catedrático José Beltrán 2, 46980, Paterna, Spain

    José F. Palacios-Abella, Juan Antonio Raga, Wolf Isbert & Francisco E. Montero

  2. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Simona Georgieva & Aneta Kostadinova

  3. Parassitologia e Malattie Parassitarie, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    Salvatore Mele

Authors
  1. José F. Palacios-Abella
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  2. Simona Georgieva
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  3. Salvatore Mele
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  4. Juan Antonio Raga
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  5. Wolf Isbert
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  7. Francisco E. Montero
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Correspondence to José F. Palacios-Abella.

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All applicable institutional, national and international guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Additional information

This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as 1E380D97-C9DA-47C0-AE28-2924703F9775. This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number. This is the Version of Record.

This article is part of the Topical Collection Digenea

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Palacios-Abella, J.F., Georgieva, S., Mele, S. et al. Skoulekia erythrini n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae): a parasite of Pagellus erythrinus (L.) (Perciformes: Sparidae) from the western Mediterranean with an amendment of the generic diagnosis. Syst Parasitol 94, 669–688 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-017-9733-5

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