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A new cryptic species of Aponurus Looss, 1907 (Digenea: Lecithasteridae) from Mediterranean goatfish (Teleostei: Mullidae)

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Abstract

The status of the trematode Aponurus laguncula Looss, 1907 in the western Mediterranean is re-assessed by means of a comparative morphological study and rDNA sequences based on newly collected material. A. laguncula (sensu stricto) is redescribed from Trachinus draco L. and a new cryptic species of the ‘A. laguncula complex’, Aponurus mulli n. sp., is described on the basis of abundant material from Mullus barbatus L. (type-host) and M. surmuletus L. off the Spanish Mediterranean coasts. The new species is differentiated from A. laguncula (sensu stricto) by its: significantly larger, elongate body, with maximum width at the level of the ventral sucker; shorter forebody; distinctly larger sinus-sac, seminal receptacle and seminal vesicle, with the latter also being more elongate; vesicular pars prostatica; more anteriorly located vitellarium, which consists of eight globular follicles; and distinctly smaller eggs, which are also smaller in relation to body size and have both their opercular and anopercular poles rounded. The variability and the allometric growth of the morphological characters in the new species were studied in detail, resulting in additional distinguishing features. Sequences of the large subunit rRNA (28S) gene (domains D1–D3) and ITS2 rRNA gene region for the new species have been submitted to GenBank in order to enhance future studies on species differentiation within the ‘A. laguncula complex’.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Carlos Mendoza Palmero for his help with the photographs and to Prof. Tomáš Scholz (Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) and Dr Francisco E. Montero (University of Valencia, Spain) for their comments on the manuscript. We thank two anonymous referees for their important suggestions and Dr David Gibson (Natural History Museum, London) for his kind help in improving the quality of the figures and the English of the MS. This study was supported by the Institute of Parasitology (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) grants Z60220518 and LC522 to AK, the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic grant P505/10/1562 to AK, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain grant CTM2006-13508-C02-01MAR to MC. Sampling of M. surmulletus was conducted during a Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Spain visiting research fellowship grant SB2000-0246 to AK. MCA benefited from a FPU grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain and a formation grant from the Xarxa de Referència de R+D+I en Aqüicultura (Generalitat de Catalunya).

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  1. Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola, 08193, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta Carreras-Aubets, Aigües Repullés-Albelda & Maite Carrassón

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

    Aneta Kostadinova

  3. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Aneta Kostadinova

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  1. Marta Carreras-Aubets
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  2. Aigües Repullés-Albelda
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Correspondence to Aneta Kostadinova.

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Carreras-Aubets, M., Repullés-Albelda, A., Kostadinova, A. et al. A new cryptic species of Aponurus Looss, 1907 (Digenea: Lecithasteridae) from Mediterranean goatfish (Teleostei: Mullidae). Syst Parasitol 79, 145–159 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-011-9297-8

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