Abstract
Introduction
Although many batoid species, known as final hosts of lecanicephalidean cestodes, exist in the Persian Gulf, no knowledge regarding this cestode order is available for this region. This study is the first one focusing on this order in the Persian Gulf.
Methods
A total of 11 cowtail stingrays, Pastinachus sephen (Forsskål), were collected from the north eastern Persian Gulf. Isolated cestodes were fixed in 10% seawater-buffered formalin and stored in 70% ethanol. For morphological examinations, worms were stained using acetic carmine; a subset was prepared for SEM.
Results
A new species of Polypocephalus Braun, 1878 was described. Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov. is the only species within its genus reported outside the waters of Japan, India, Sri Lanka, and Egypt in the Indian Ocean. Since the microtriches were not described in the generic diagnosis of Polypocephalus, the description of the microtriches is added based on the standardised terminology. Furthermore, the characteristics of this new species were discussed and compared within Polypocephalus, many species of which have poor descriptions.
Conclusions
Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov. is the first report of the genus Polypocephalus in the Persian Gulf and the 15th valid species of its genus.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and material
All the data were transferred into the paper.
References
Jensen K, Cielocha J, Herzog K, Caira J (2017) Lecanicephalidea Hyman, 1951. In: Caira JN, Jensen K (eds) Planetary biodiversity inventory (2008–2017): tapeworms from vertebrate bowels of the Earth. University of Kansas, Lawrence, pp 207–229
Jabado R, Kyne P, Pollom R, Ebert D, Simpfendorfer C, Ralph G, Dulvy N (2017) The conservation status of sharks, rays, and chimaeras in the Arabian sea and adjacent waters environment agency – Abu Dhabi, UAE and IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group, Vancouver, Canada
Aminjan AR, Malek M (2016) Two new cestode species of Tetragonocephalum Shipley and hornell, 1905 (Lecanicephalidea, Tetragonocephalidae) from Himantura randalli last, Manjaji-Matsumoto and Moore (Myliobatiformes, Dasyatidae) from the Gulf of Oman. ZooKeys 623:1–13. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.623.9724
Aminjan AR, Malek M (2017) Two new species of Tetragonocephalum (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) from Pastinachus sephen (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) from the Gulf of Oman. Folia Parasit 64:014. https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2017.014
Chervy L (2009) Unified terminology for cestode microtriches: a proposal from the international workshops on cestode systematics in 2002–2008. Folia Parasit 56(3):199–230. https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2009.025
Braun M (1878) Zwei neue bandwürmer. Arbeiten aus dem Zoologisch-Zootomischen Institut in Würzburg Neue Folge 4:297–302
Butler S (1987) Taxonomy of some tetraphyllidean cestodes from elasmobranch fishes. Aust J Zool 35(4):343–371
Gardner SL, Schmidt GD (1984) Discobothrium caribbensis sp. n., a Lecanicephalidean Cestode from a Yellow-Spotted Stingray, Urolophus jamaicensis, in Jamaica. J Parasitol 70:303–304
Hassan S (1982) Polypocephalus saoudi n. sp. Lecanicephalidean cestode from Taeniura lymma in the Red Sea. J Egypt Soc Parasitol 12:395–401
Jensen K (2005) A monograph on the lecanicephalidea (Platyhelminthes, Cestoda). Bull Univ Nebr State Mus 18:1–241
Linton E (1890) Notes on Entozoa of marine fishes of New England, with descriptions of several new species. Part II. Annu Rep US Comm Fish for 1887:719–900. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.995
Southwell T (1912) A description of ten new species of cestode parasites from marine fishes of Ceylon, with notes on other cestodes from the same region. Ceylon Mar Biol Rep 1:259–278
Southwell T (1925) A monograph on the Tetraphyllidea with notes on related cestodes. Mem Liverpool S Trop Med (New Series) 2:1–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222932508633362
Subhapradha C (1951) On the genus Polypocephalus Braun, 1878 (Cestoda), together with descriptions of six new species from Madras. P Zool Soc Lond 121:205–235
Yamaguchi S (1960) Studies on the helminth fauna of Japan. Part 56. Cestodes of fishes, III. Seto Mar Biol Lab 8:41–50
Deshmukh R, Jadhav B, Shinde G (1982) Five new species of the genus Polypocephalus Braun, 1878 (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) from India. Marathwada Unive J Sci (Biol Sci) 21:79–86
Jadhav D, Shinde G (1989) A new species of the genus Polypocephalus (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) at Ratnagiri, M. S. India. Riv Parassitol 6:189–191
Jadhav B, Shinde G, Sarwade D (1986) Polypocephalus ratnagiriensis sp. nov. (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae) from Trygon zugei, India. Indian J Helminthol 38:88–92
Pramanik P, Manna B (2006) Polypocephalus himanshui n. sp. (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae) from Rhynchobatus djeddensis Forsskal, 1775 From Bay of Bengal at Digha Coast, West Bengal, India. Indian J Anim Health 45:125–138
Shinde G, Jadhav B (1981) Four new species of the genus Polypocephalus Braun, 1878 (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae) from the marine fishes of India. Indian J Parasitol 5:1–7
Shinde G, Dhule B, Jadhav D (1991) Polypocephalus bombayensis sp. nov. (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae) from a marine fish Aetobatus flagellum at Kakinada (AP) India. Indian J Helminthol 43:77–79
Vankara AP, Vijaya Lakshmi C, Vijaya Lakshmi J (2007) Polypocephalus viskhapatnamensis sp. nov. (Lecanicephalidea: Polypocephalidae) from Himantura uarnak (Forsskål) and Dasyatis (Amphotistius) zugei (Müller and Henle) from Visakhapatnam coast. J Parasit Dis 31:152–154
Last P, White W, de Carvalho M, Séret B, Stehmann M, Naylor G (2016) Rays of the World. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, p 790. https://doi.org/10.1086/693643
Henderson AC, Reeve AJ, Jabado RW, Naylor GJ (2016) Taxonomic assessment of sharks, rays and guitarfishes (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii) from south-eastern Arabia, using the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (NADH2) gene. Zool J Linn Soc-Lond 176(2):399–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12309
Brockerhoff A, Jones MK (1995) Ultrastructure of the scolex and tentacles of the metacestode of Polypocephalus species (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae) from the blueswimmer crab Portunus pelagicus. Int J Parasitol 25(9):1077–1088. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7519(95)00025-W
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute, which allowed them to examine the rays sampled under its project of stock assessment.
Funding
The research affairs of the University of Guilan financially supported this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
MH conceived, designed, and supervised the research. HMR measured and drew. MH wrote the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the manuscript. This article is based on the student (HMR)’s thesis.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for animal testing, animal care, and use of animals were followed by the authors.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as 70F755F4-4BEF-45F2-810B-732581A2765B.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Momeni Roudsari, H., Haseli, M. Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov., a New Species of Polypocephalidae Meggitt, 1924 (Lecanicephalidea) from the Persian Gulf. Acta Parasit. 66, 178–184 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-020-00265-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-020-00265-4