New Polyclithrum (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) from external surface of Mugil liza (Mugilidae) from Samborombón Bay, Argentina

MARCOTEGUI, PAULA S.; MONTES M MARTIN; MARTORELLI SERGIO R

VIÑAS DEL MAR

Simposio; VII Internationa Symposium of Fish Parasites; 2011

Gyrodactylids of genus Polyclithrum Rogers 1967 are parasites of external surfaces of mugilids. At present, this genus comprises a total of five nominal species: P. alberti Ernst, Whittington & Jones 2000), a parasite of Mugil cephalus from Queensland, Australia; P. boegeri Ernst, Whittington & Jones 2000, found in M. liza from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; P. corallense Ernst, Whittington & Jones, 2000 a parasite of M. cephalus from Heron Island, Australia; P. mugilini Rogers, 1967, a parasite of M. cephalus from Georgia, USA, and Black Sea, and P. ponticum Gerasev, Dmitrieva & Gaevskaja, 2002, a parasite of M. cephalus from Black Sea. Now in the course of a parasitological survey of brackishwater fishes in Samborombón Bay, Argentina we have collected several monogenean species including a new species of Polyclithrum found in the body surface of M. liza. This is the first record of the genus in Argentina. The new species differ for all previously described species, mainly by the morphology of male copulatory organ and most of the measurements of haptoral sclerites. Therefore, Polyclithrum specimens collected from M. liza from Samborombón Bay represent a new species currently being described.