A New Gyrodactylid (Monogenea) Genus on Gray Bichir, Polypterus senegalus (Polypteridae) from Senegal (West Africa)

• Published in: The Journal of parasitology Vol. 95; no. 3; pp. 555 - 560
• Main Authors: Přikrylová, Iva, Matějusová, Iveta, Musilová, Naďa, Gelnar, Milan, Harris, Philip D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society of Parasitologists 01-06-2009; Allen Press Inc
• Subjects: Animal vivipary; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological taxonomies; Consensus Sequence; DNA, Helminth - chemistry; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer - chemistry; Ectoparasitology; Embryos; Fish Diseases - parasitology; Fishes; Freshwater fishes; Genera; Gills - parasitology; Gyrodactylidae; Microscopy, Interference; Molecular Sequence Data; Monogenea; Morphology; National parks; New genus; Parasite hosts; Parasites; Parasitology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polypteridae; Polypterus senegalus; Senegal; Sickles; Trematoda - anatomy & histology; Trematoda - classification; Trematoda - genetics; Trematode Infections - parasitology; Trematode Infections - veterinary; Senegal; California; United States > US; Africa
• ISSN: 0022-3395; 1937-2345
• DOI: 10.1645/GE-1652.1

Diplogyrodactylus martini n. g. et sp., a viviparous monogenean, is described from the gills of gray bichir Polypterus senegalus Cuvier, 1829, in Senegal. This new genus can be readily distinguished from the other described viviparous genera based on the morphology of the attachment apparatus. The haptor is equipped with a pair of centrally positioned hamuli, a simple ventral bar without membrane and 8 pairs of marginal hooks of 2 types, 5 pairs of hooks with well-defined large falculate sickles, and 3 pairs of smaller hooks with well-articulated sickles. The new genus is unique in having a teardrop-shaped muscular tubular male copulatory organ which lacks spines. A partial sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS rDNA) was obtained from 4 specimens of D. martini. The relationship among D. martini and other genera of the Gyrodactylidae is discussed based on the similarities of the attachment apparatus.