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Kudoa unicapsula n. sp. (Myxosporea: Kudoidae) a parasite of the Mediterranean mullets Liza ramada and L. aurata (Teleostei: Mugilidae)

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Abstract

A new multivalvulid myxozoan parasite, Kudoa unicapsula n. sp., is described from the intestinal mesentery, intestine and pyloric caeca of the thin-lipped grey mullet Liza ramada (Risso 1826) and the golden grey mullet L. aurata (Risso, 1810) from the Mediterranean coastal waters of Spain. It is characterized by the presence of elongated, rice corn-like white cysts of 0.47–0.56 × 0.18–0.38 mm, filled with tetracapsulate, slightly asymmetric spores, rectangular in apical view and tear-shaped in lateral view with four polar capsules of considerably different size and slightly unequal spore valves with rounded edges, overlapping each other on the apex of the spore. One large polar capsule includes a polar filament coiled in two to three turns, and the other three polar capsules, which are very small, posses only a rudimental filament. Both light and electron microscopy data showed that this species differs from all previously described Kudoa spp. with unequal polar capsules. The molecular analysis based on 18S and 28S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid DNA sequence data of K. unicapsula n. sp. indicates a close relationship and thus phylogenetic clustering together with K. trifolia, a myxozoan from the same host and the same geographical location.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Isabel Blasco-Costa at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, for the help with the collection of material. This research was supported by the INTAS grant (project number 03-51-5998). A.S.H. benefited from a postdoctoral Marie-Curie Fellowship of the European Union (MTKD-CT-2004-003175). We assure that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in where they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of the Biology of the Southern Seas, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2, Nakhimov Street, 99011, Sevastopol, Ukraine

    V. M. Yurakhno

  2. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 15, Khmelnytski Street, 01601, Kiev, Ukraine

    M. O. Ovcharenko

  3. Witold Stefañski Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 51/55 Twarda Street, 00818, Warsaw, Poland

    M. O. Ovcharenko

  4. Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversi1y and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, P.O. Box 22085, 46071, Valencia, Spain

    A. S. Holzer, V. L. Sarabeev & J. A. Balbuena

  5. Department of Biology, Zaporizhzhia National Univesity, 66 Zhukovskogo Street, 69063, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine

    V. L. Sarabeev

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  1. V. M. Yurakhno
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  2. M. O. Ovcharenko
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  3. A. S. Holzer
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  4. V. L. Sarabeev
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  5. J. A. Balbuena
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Correspondence to M. O. Ovcharenko.

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Yurakhno, V.M., Ovcharenko, M.O., Holzer, A.S. et al. Kudoa unicapsula n. sp. (Myxosporea: Kudoidae) a parasite of the Mediterranean mullets Liza ramada and L. aurata (Teleostei: Mugilidae). Parasitol Res 101, 1671–1680 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0711-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0711-8

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