Helminth parasites from Red Sea fishes: Neowardula brayi gen. nov., sp. nov. (Trematoda: Mesometridae Poche, 1926) and Sclerocollum saudii sp. nov. (Acanthocephala: Cavisomidae Meyer, 1932)
Author
Al-Jahdali, Mohammed O.
text
Zootaxa
2010
2681
57
65
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.199330
96e80d1f-e569-4069-bd45-a28029a08aa1
1175-5326
199330
Family:
Mesometridae Poche, 1926
Mesometridae Poche, 1926
is a small trematode family, parasitizing the digestive tract of marine teleost fishes. Historically, the systematic position and relationships of this family have long been in dispute (see
Szidat 1936
;
Skrjabin 1949
; Jousson
et al.
1957;
Holliman 1961
;
Yamaguti 1971
;
Bray 1984
;
Brooks
et al.
1985
;
Pearson 1992
;
Cribb
et al.
2003
; Olson
et al.
2003). In this family, the tegument is spined, the anterior region of the ventral surface or all of it, is concave, acting as an accessory attachment organ since the mucosal surface of the host is smooth (
Bartoli 1987
), the oral sucker is absent (see
Hall and Cribb 2000
; Cribb
et al.
2001;
Jones and Blair 2005
), the ventral sucker is absent, the cirrus sac is absent and the excretory system is reticular.
Jones and Blair (2005)
comprehensively reviewed the family, recognizing 5 genera as valid within the family;
Mesometra
Luhe, 1901
,
Centroderma
Luhe, 1901
,
Wardula
Poche, 1926
,
Elstia
Bray, 1984
and
Parawardula
Jones et Blair, 2005
. These genera are easily distinguished from each other by the professional keys given by
Jones and Blair (2005)
. To date, no other genera are added and the 5 known genera comprise about 8 species.