A new species of Caudotestis (Digenea: Opecoelidae) parasitizing the horsefish, Congiopodus peruvianus (Scorpaeniformes: Congiopodidae) from the patagonian shelf, Argentina

CANTATORE, D.M.P.; LANCIA, J.P.; LANFRANCHI, A.L.; TIMI, J.T.

JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY

AMER SOC PARASITOLOGISTS

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2012 p. 1144 - 1147

0022-3395

A new species of digeneans, Caudotestis patagonensis n. sp. (Digenea: Opecoelidae), is described and illustrated based on specimens collected from the intestine of the horsefish, Congiopodus peruvianus (Cuvier, 1829) (Scorpaeniformes: Congiopodidae) from the Patagonian Shelf, Argentina (45?48°S; 60?64°W). This opecelid differs from the 4 previously known species of Caudotestis mainly in the greatest extent of its seminal vesicle within the hindbody and the distribution of vitelline follicles. Moreover, the new species can also be distinguished by possessing the following combination of features: oral and ventral sucker nearly equal in size, ventral sucker at boundary of anterior third of body, intestinal bifurcation in posterior third of forebody and anterior to genital pore, genital pore submedial sinistral, anterior-most extent of the excretory vesicle reaching ovarian region, ovary near equidistant from both ventral sucker and anterior testis, posterior-most extent of the uterine loops just reaching ovarian region, testes oval and in tandem, ceca ending in front of the anterior testis and size and number of eggs. This is the fifth recognized species of Caudotestis, being the first report of a species of this genus in the southern Atlantic Ocean and the second from a congiopodid fish.