Description of a new genus of Escherbothriidae (Cestoda: Rhinebothriidea) in species of Sympterygia (Rajiformes: Arhynchobatidae) from South America based on morphological and molecular evidence, with an amended diagnosis of the family

FRANZESE SEBASTIAN; MONTES MARTIN MIGUEL; IBAÑEZ SHIMABUKURO, MARINA; ARREDONDO, NATHALIA J.

Zoologischer Anzeiger

Elsevier

Año: 2024

0044-5231

Ivanovcestus yakiae gen. et sp. nov. was collected from specimens of thebatoid Sympterygia bonapartii from waters off Río Negro and Buenos Aires Provinces,in the Argentine Sea. Ivanovcestus gen. nov. is assigned to the Rhinebothriidea fortheir possession of facially loculated bothridia borne on stalks and a cirrus covered byspinitriches. The new genus is unique in the arrangement of loculi and septa on thedistal bothridial surface. The molecular analysis based on 18S and 28S rDNA of twospecimens of the new species identified Ivanovcestus gen. nov. as a member of thefamily Escherbothriidae, with our study representing the first record of this family in theArgentine Sea. The proposed new genus requires a new amended diagnosis for theEscherbothriidae, to include a new pattern of loculi and septa for the distal bothridialsurface, as well as a new host. In addition, the present study proposes to transfer twospecies of Rhinebothrium, originally described parasitizing the skate Sympterygia limain the Chilean Sea (i.e., Rhinebothrium chilensis and Rhinebothrium leiblei), toIvanovcestus gen. nov.. Examination of the original descriptions and type materialrevealed several morphological characters that justify the relocation of both species tothe new genus.