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Description of Two New Species of Philometra Costa, 1845 (Nematoda: Philometridae) from Marine Fishes off Japan, with Notes on Philometroides seriolae (Yamaguti, 1935)

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Abstract

Purpose

Philometrid nematodes (Philometridae) represent a group of more than 200 species parasitic in the body cavity and various body tissues of fishes. Due to morphological and biological peculiarities, the majority of them are known only by their large females. Generally, the fauna of these parasites remains little known.

Methods

Occasional helminthological examinations of three species of marine fishes in Japan revealed two new and one insufficiently known species of these tissue-dwelling parasites. These were studied with the use of light and scanning electron microscopy.

Results

All three nematode species are described. Philometra ostorhinchi sp. nov. (males and females) from the ovary of Ostorhinchus semilineatus (Temminck et Schlegel) (Apogonidae, Perciformes) is characterized mainly by the lengths and structure of spicules and the gubernaculum (spicules 108–120 µm long, length of the gubernaculum 78–87 µm); it is the only species of philometrids parasitic in a fish belonging to the Apogonidae. The gravid females of Philometra tenuis sp. nov. (only females available) from the head subcutaneous tissues of Conger myriaster (Brevoort) (Congridae, Anguilliformes) differ from congeners mainly in an unusual shape of the anterior oesophageal bulb. Some new data on the morphology of an insufficiently known species Philometroides seriolae (Ishii, 1931), collected from the body musculature of Seriola quinqueradiata Temminck et Schlegel (Carangidae, Perciformes), are provided; the number and arrangement of cephalic papillae in subgravid females of P. seriolae were found to be similar to those in females of the majority of other philometrid species.

Conclusions

The present study extends the knowledge of the species composition of philometrids parasitizing marine fishes and of the morphology of P. seriolae, the type species of Philometroides Yamaguti, 1935.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Gen Kume, Kagoshima University, for providing Philometra ostorhinchi specimens. Thanks are also due to the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS, institution supported by the MEYS CR (LM2015062 Czech-BioImaging) for their support with obtaining scientific data presented in this paper, and to Blanka Škoríková of the same Institute for help with illustrations.

Funding

This study was partly supported by the institutional support of the Institute of Parasitology, BC AS CR, 585110/9500.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    František Moravec

  2. Meguro Parasitological Museum, 4-1-1 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-0064, Japan

    Kazuo Ogawa

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  1. František Moravec
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  2. Kazuo Ogawa
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Correspondence to František Moravec.

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Moravec, F., Ogawa, K. Description of Two New Species of Philometra Costa, 1845 (Nematoda: Philometridae) from Marine Fishes off Japan, with Notes on Philometroides seriolae (Yamaguti, 1935). Acta Parasit. 64, 829–838 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-019-00107-y

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