A NEW SPECIES OF NEOASCAROPHIS (NEMATODA: CYSTIDICOLIDAE) PARASITIC IN MACROURUS CARINATUS (MACROURIDAE) FROM ARGENTINEAN WATERS

ROSSIN M. ALEJANDRA; JUAN T. TIMI

JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY

AMER SOC PARASITOLOGISTS

Año: 2012 vol. 98 p. 643 - 647

0022-3395

Nematodes of the cystidicolid Neoascarophis Machida, 1976, are all parasites of macrourid fishes, making up at present 5species. Several other unidentified species have also been reported in several fish species from the northern and southern AtlanticOcean, including 1 from Macrourus carinatus (Gu¨ nther) (Macrouridae) in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. During a parasitologicalsurvey carried out on samples of M. carinatus from Patagonian waters, nematodes referable to Neascarophis were found in ulcers in thegastric mucosa. These nematodes Neascarophis sphaeroacarophis n. sp. closely resemble N. macrouri by the posterior position of thevulva and the dilated posterior extremity in females. However, the new species differs from N. macrouri mainly by its larger size, alarger muscular esophagus, and a widely globose posterior extremity in females. SEM study of cephalic structures also showedmorphological differences between both species, especially in the morphology of the submedian labia and lateral pseudolabia. In viewof these differences a new species is proposed.