Sundapolystoma chalconotae. n. g., n. sp. (Polystomatidae, Polystomatinae) is proposed for a new polystomatid from the urinary bladder of Rana chalconota (Schlegel) in Peninsular Malaysia. This is the first species of polystomatid to be described from the amphibians of Peninsular Malaysia and the second for the Southeast Asian region. This new genus, as exemplified by S. chalconotae, differs from other polystomatids, and in particular Parapolystoma Ozaki, 1935 (P. bulliense (Johnston, 1912) Ozaki, 1935 and P. johnstoni Pichelin, 1995), in having a tubular uterus and a single diffuse testis. P. crooki Vande Vusse, 1976 is similar to S. chalconotae in having a similar type of uterus and testis, and is re-assigned as Sundapolystoma crooki (Vande Vusse, 1976) n. comb. S. chalconotae differs from S. crooki in having anchors with a longer outer root rather than a longer inner root and 7-8 genital spines compared to 9-13 in S. crooki.
This is a catalogue and discussion of the known dactylogyridean monogenean genera of siluriform fishes of the Old World. Of a total of 38 nominal genera, only 19 are considered valid. Seventeen of these 19 genera are currently in the Ancyrocephalidae (containing the Ancyrocephalinae and Ancylodiscoidinae), whilst the other two (Neocalceostoma and Neocalceostomoides) are in the Neocalceostomatidae. The 17 genera are Anchylodiscus, Ancylodiscoides, Bagrobdella, Bifurcohaptor, Bychowskyella, Chauhanellus, Cornudiscoides, Hamatopeduncularia, Mizelleus, Paraquadriacanthus, Pseudancylodiscoides, Protoancylodiscoides, Quadriacanthus, Schilbetrema, Schilbetrematoides, Synodontella and Thaparocleidus. Clariotrema Long, 1981 and Neobychowskyella Ma, Wang & Li, 1983 are considered synonyms of Bychowskyella Akhmerov, 1952, Anacornuatus Dubey, Gupta & Agarwal, 1992 is considered a synonym of Quadriacanthus Paperna, 1961, Mizellebychowskia Gupta & Sachdeva, 1990 is considered a synonym of Neocalceostoma Tripathi, 1959 and Hargitrema Tripathi, 1959 is treated as a synonym of Hamatopeduncularia Yamaguti, 1953. It is proposed that the Ancylodiscoidinae be raised to family status within the order Dactylogyridea to accommodate these 17 'ancyrocephalid' genera from siluriforms, together with Malayanodiscoides and Notopterodiscoides from notopterids. A key and the diagnostic characteristics of the 19 recognised dactylogyridean genera from catfishes plus two from notopterids, together with a list of species and synonyms, are included. New combinations made in this work are Thaparocleidus avicularia (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. calyciflorus (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. choanovagina (Luo & Lang, 1981) n. comb., T. dissimilis (Chen, 1988) n. comb., T. leiocassis (Reichenbach-Klinke, 1959) n. comb., T. meticulosa (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. parasoti (Zhao & Ma, 1999) n. comb., T. persculpus (Chen, 1987) n. comb., T. valga (Chen, 1987) n. comb. and T. wulingensis (Yao & Wang, 1997) n. comb. [all from Silurodiscoides] and Bychowskyella glyptothoraci (Ma, Wang & Li, 1983) n. comb. [from Neobychowskyella].
A new digenean, Allassogonoporus callosciuri n. sp. from the plantain squirrel Callosciurus notatus from the Malaysian state of Sarawak, Borneo, is described. The new species differs from: A. amphoraeformis by the size of the ventral sucker and the position of the vitellarium and uterus; and from A. marginalis by the smaller oral sucker, the position of the testes and vitellarium; from A. vespertilionis by the position of the vitellarium, testes and ovary; from A. asymmetrica by the position of the testes and uterus. Gilford's (1955) and Dubois' (1963) opinions on the synonymy of Allassogonoporus and Myotitrema is supported. No representatives of the family Allassogonoporidae have been reported previously from sciurids or South-East Asia.
Three species of Opisthomonorcheides Parukhin, 1966 are reported for the first time from Indonesian waters: O. pampi (Wang, 1982) Liu, Peng, Gao, Fu, Wu, Lu, Gao & Xiao, 2010 and O. ovacutus (Mamaev, 1970) Machida, 2011 from Parastromateus niger (Bloch), and O. decapteri Parukhin, 1966 from Atule mate (Cuvier). Both O. pampi and O. ovacutus can now be considered widespread in the Indo-Pacific region, with earlier records of these species being from Fujian Province, China and Penang, Malaysia, respectively. We redescribe O. decapteri from one of its original hosts, Atule mate, off New Caledonia, and report this species from Jakarta Bay, Indonesia, extending its range throughout the Indian Ocean into the south-western Pacific. All three species possess a genital atrium that is long, sometimes very long, and a genital pore that is located in the forebody. This validates the interpretation that the original description was erroneous in reporting the genital pore in the hindbody, well posterior to the ventral sucker. These observations verify the synonymy of Retractomonorchis Madhavi, 1977 with Opisthomonorcheides. A major discrepancy between the species of Opisthomonorcheides is that some are described with the uterus entering the terminal organ laterally and some with it entering terminally; this feature needs further analysis. Based on the length of the genital atrium and the posterior extent of the vitellarium, the 27 species of Opisthomonorcheides considered valid can be divided into four groups. Among the 53 host records analysed, the families Carangidae (53% of records), Stromateidae (17%) and Serranidae (5.7%) are the most common; the reports are overwhelmingly from members of the Perciformes (91%), with further records in the Clupeiformes (5.7%), Gadiformes (1.9%) and Pleuronectiformes (1.9%). Two fish genera (Parastromateus Bleeker and Pampus Bonaparte) dominate the recorded hosts, with the black pomfret Parastromateus niger harbouring six species, the silver pomfret Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen) harbouring six, and the Chinese silver pomfret P. chinensis (Euphrasen) two. A host-parasite checklist is presented. We discuss the host-specificity of members of the genus, questioning some records such as that of O. decapteri in a deep-sea macrourid. We also comment on the morphological similarity, but phylogenetic distance, between the various Pomfret species, advancing the possibility that a series of host misidentifications has occurred. Sequences of the ITS2 rDNA gene generated for O. pampi and O. ovacutus are briefly discussed and molecular data are lodged in the GenBank database.
Hamatopeduncularia longiangusticirrata sp. nov. and H. petalumvaginata sp. nov. were collected from Arius maculatus and Nemapteryx caelata, respectively from Tanjung Karang, Peninsular Malaysia. Morphological and molecular investigations were carried out to ascertain the identity of the new species. The two new species differ from previously described Hamatopeduncularia species in the morphology of the male and female reproductive organs. Hamatopeduncularia longiangusticirrata sp. nov. possesses a long penis similar to H. elongata, H. longicopulatrix, H. brisbanensis, H. major and H. petalumvaginata sp. nov., but differs in having a thread-like tapering distal end and can be distinguished from H. brisbanensis and H. major in not having an accessory piece. Hamatopeduncularia longiangusticirrata sp. nov. is also unique in having an ornamented penis initial and a vaginal tube surrounded by fine hair-like structures. Hamatopeduncularia petalumvaginata sp. nov. possesses a simple penis without an accessory piece and a petaloid vaginal opening that resembles the arrangement of petals on a flower. Maximum likelihood trees were constructed from partial 28S and 18S rDNA sequences of the two new species and other ancylodiscoidids to reveal a strongly supported monophyletic branch consisting of the two new species for both markers. According to Lim's classification in 1996 of Hamatopeduncularia species penis type, H. petalumvaginata sp. nov. has been classified within the elegans-type and H. longiangusticirrata sp. nov. is proposed as the longiangusticirrata-type.
We describe Morishitium polonicum malayense n. subsp. from Asian glossy starlings (Aplonis panayensis strigata) (Horsfield, 1821) (Passeriformis: Sturnidae) caught in Malaysia. The trematodes had parasitized the air sacs and the thoracic and body cavities of 40 out of 67 (59.7%) birds examined. The specimens each had an oral sucker, a postpharyngeal genital pore, and tandem testes, but lacked a ventral sucker. The morphological characteristics of our specimens were similar to those of M. polonicum polonicum (Machalska, 1980) from Poland. However, the anterior extremity of vitelline follicles of the present specimens sometimes extended to the level of pharynx. The oral sucker width, oral sucker width/pharynx width ratio, and intertesticular space metrics differed from those of M. p. polonicum. The maximum-likelihood trees based on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences indicated that the species from the present study formed a sister group with M. p. polonicum from the Czech Republic. The p-distances of COI and ITS2 sequences between the present specimens and M. p. polonicum from the Czech Republic were 6.9-7.5% and 0.6%, respectively. These genetic divergences indicate the border for intra- or interspecific variation of digeneans. The definitive host species and geographical distribution of the current specimens were distinct from those of M. p. polonicum from Europe. We thus concluded that the present specimens are ranked as a new subspecies of M. polonicum, namely M. polonicum malayense n. subsp.
Ligophorus belanaki n. sp. and Ligophorus kederai n. sp. are described from Liza subviridis Valenciennes, 1836 and Valamugil buchanani Bleeker, 1854, respectively. Ligophorus kederai n. sp. has fenestrated ventral anchors, while in L. belanaki n. sp. the ventral anchor is not fenestrated. Ligophorus belanaki n. sp. is similar to L. careyensis, one of its coexisting congeners, in the overall shape and size of hard parts, but differs in having a flat median piece in the structure of the AMP (antero-median protuberance of the ventral bar), copulatory organ with non-ornamented initial part and longer vaginal tube, compared to raised median piece in the AMP, ornamented initial part and comparatively shorter vaginal tube in L. careyensis. Ligophorus kederai n. sp. is similar to L. fenestrum, a coexisting congener, in having fenestrated ventral anchors, but differs in having longer points and narrower base. Ligophorus fenestrum, unlike L. kederai n. sp., also possesses fenestrated dorsal anchors. The principal component analysis (PCA) scatterplots indicate that the two new and eight known Ligophorus species from Malaysian mugilids can be differentiated based on the morphometries of their anchors, ventral bars and copulatory organ separately and when combined together. Numerical taxonomy (NT) analyses based on Jaccard's Index of Similarity and neighbour-joining clustering, is used to facilitate comparison of these two new species with the 50 known Ligophorus based on morphological and metric characters. The two new species are different from each other and the other 50 species in the overall shapes and sizes of hard parts, as indicated by the NT analyses.
Hard structures of helminths have often been used for taxonomic identification but are usually not clearly defined when treated with conventional methods such as ammonium picrate-glycerin for monogeneans and glycerin for nematodes. The present study reports a rapid and simple technique to better resolve the hard parts of selected monogeneans and nematodes using 5-10% alkaline sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). In comparison with established methods, SDS-treated worms become more transparent. In monogeneans treated with SDS, clear details of the hooks, hook filaments, anchors, bars and the sclerotized copulatory organs could be observed. In SDS-treated nematodes, spicules and ornamentations of the buccal capsules could be clearly seen.
Euparadistomum is described from 7 species of small mammal in Malaysia. The worms display characteristics intermediate between E. buckleyi Singh and E. pearsoni Talbot particularly with regard to body shape and arrangement of vitelline fields. The nature of morphological variation is discussed and comment made on the possible life-cycle of the parasite.
Thirteen bats, Tadarida mops de Blainville, collected from the Ampang district in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were found positive for the trematodes Castroia kamariae sp. nov. and Limatulum kuziai sp. nov. Two distinct but morphologically similar forms of Castroia kamariae were recovered. The morphological type is apparently determined by its location in the host intestine.
Six species of strigeoid trematodes are reported from Malaysia. One new genus and 3 new species are described: Apatemon (Apatemon( jamesi sp. n (Strigeidae); cercaria Cotylurus sullivani sp. n. (Strigeidae); Neodiplostomum (Neodiplostomum) sp. (Diplostomatidae); Fibricola ramachandrani (Diplostomatidae); Pseudoscolopacitrema otteri gen. n. et sp. n. (Diplostomatidae); and cercaria Cyathocotyle malayi sp. n. (Cyathocotylidae). The life cycles of A. jamesi and C. malayi have also been investigated.
Mesocoelium malayanum sp. n. is described from the frog Rana macrodon, in Malaysia. Elongate body, broader anteriorly, measuring 1.900 (1.679-2.070) mm long by 0.404 (0.380-0.437) wide, tegument aspinose oral sucker 0.212 (0.200-0.228) by 0.202 (9.191-0.205), acetabulum 0.141 (0.132-0.150) by 0.139 (0.123-0.146), prepharynx present, oesophagus 0.115 (0.096-0.137), caeca reaching posterior 1/3 of body, anterior testis 0.097 (0.087-0.110) by 0.091 (0.087-0.100) dorsal to acetabulum, posterior testis 0.094 (0.087-0.101) by 0.092 (0.091-0.100), cirrus pouch 0.121 (0.111-0.130) by 0.047 (0.041-0.055), genital pore at left of midline of oesophagus just anterior to intestinal bifurcation, ovary 0.110 (0.091-0.127) by 0.089 (0.085-0.096) on left of body and posterior to acetabulum, vitelline glands with single follicles extending from intestinal bifurcation to ends of caeca, excretory vesicle I-shaped and eggs 0.040 (0.037-0.046) by 0.023 (0.022-0.024). Although morphologically related to M. maroccanum and M. meggitti, M. malayanum is considered to be a new species.
Stunkardia minuta sp. n. was recovered from the small intestine and rectum of 5 box-tortoises (Cuora amboinensis) in Malaysia. The average body size (L X W) is 11-42 X 2-35 mm; oral sucker 1-51 X 1.02; oral pouches 0-21 X 0.18; ventral sucker 1-67 X 1-43; oesophageal bulb 0-54 X 0-54; ant. testis 0-95 X 0-98; post. testis 0-94 X 0.94; seminal vesicle 0-82 X 0-24; ootype 0-21 X 0-41; ovary 0-41 X 0-34; and egg 121 X 83 micrometer. Although morphologically similar to S. dilymphosa, S. minuta is distinct from any other reported member of the Paramphistomidae.
Neodiplostomum (Conodiplostomum) ramachandrani sp. n. is described from Rattus muelleri in Kepong, Selangor, Malaysia. It is characterised by having symmetrical dumbell-shaped testes, and vitellaria as a single ventral band in the hindbody. The taxonomic relations of Neodiplostomum, Conodiplostomum and Fibricola are discussed and possible significance of the fluke as an ecological indicator noted.
Neodiplostomum (Conodiplostomum) ramachandrani Betterton, 1976 has been reported from four species of rodent hosts: Echinosorex gymnurus (Raffles): Rattus whiteheadi (Thos); R. muelleri (Jentink) and Callosciurus notatus (Boddaert). A comparison of trematodes recovered from these hosts revealed patterns of host-induced morphological variation taking place. Because N. (Conodiplostomum) ramachandrani shows little generic difference from Fibricola intermedius (Pearson, 1959) Sudarikov, 1960 it is transferred to the genus Fibricola and is now designated Fibricola ramachandrani (Betterton, 1976) Palmieri, Krishnasamy and Sullivan.
One new and three previously described species of Trianchoratus Price et Berry, 1966 were collected from the gills of Channa lucius (Cuvier) and Channa striata (Bloch) from the Bukit Merah Reservoir, Perak and Endau-Rompin, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. They are Trianchoratus longianchoratus sp.n., T. malayensis Lim, 1986 and T. pahangensis Lim, 1986 from C. lucius, and T. ophicephali Lim, 1986 from C. striata. The new species differs from the Trianchoratus species hitherto described from channids and anabantoids in having two ventral anchors with a long curved inner root and one dorsal anchor with a curved inner root and lacking an outer root. A table summarizing the known species of heteronchocleidins (Trianchoratus, Eutrianchoratus and Heteronchocleidus) and Sundanonchus reported from fish hosts of different families (Channidae, Helostomatidae, Anabantidae and Osphronemidae) is provided.
Myliocotyle borneoensis sp. n. and M. multicrista sp. n. (Monocotylidae: Heterocotylinae) are described from the gills of the mottled eagle ray, Aetomylaeus maculatus (Gray), and the banded eagle ray A. nichofii (Bloch et Schneider) (Myliobatidae), respectively, collected from the northern coast of Malaysian Borneo. These are the first monogeneans to be described on elasmobranchs from Borneo. The formerly monotypic Myliocotyle (for M. pteromylaei) was distinguished from other monocotylids by the distribution and morphology of the eight sclerotised dorsal haptoral accessory structures and the morphology of the male copulatory organ. However, we have determined that M. pteromylaei has ten structures on the dorsal surface of the haptor. Myliocotyle borneoensis is distinguished from M. pteromylaei by the morphology of the male copulatory organ and its accessory piece. Myliocotyle multicrista has 12 sclerotised dorsal haptoral accessory structures and a male copulatory organ with two accessory pieces. Additional sclerotised ridges across the ventral surfaces of each loculus (except the posterior-most pair) are also present in M. multicrista. The diagnosis for Myliocotyle is revised given our discovery of additional dorsal haptoral accessory structures in the type species and to accommodate other new characters of the two new species. Anterior secretions of Myliocotyle are discussed.