An updated concept and revised composition for Hamacreadium Linton, 1910 (Opecoelidae: Plagioporinae) clarifies a previously obscured pattern of host-specificity among species
Author
Martin, Storm B.
Author
Cutmore, Scott C.
Author
Ward, Selina
Author
Cribb, Thomas H.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4254
2
151
187
journal article
33240
10.11646/zootaxa.4254.2.1
64b0d4b0-479e-484a-aaf5-d5237292d4a5
1175-5326
545862
0BDF72E4-5330-4EE7-8560-DF44E71C1F41
Allocreadium fasciatusi
Kakaji, 1969
Synonyms:
Psilostomum chilkai
Chatterji, 1956
(
Psilostomidae Looss, 1900
);
Staffordiella
chilkai
(
Chatterji, 1956
)
Mehra, 1966
;
Hamacreadium chilkai
(
Chatterji, 1956
)
Yamaguti 1971
.
Records.
From the barramundi,
Lates calcarifer
(Bloch)
(
Perciformes
:
Latidae
), in Lake Chilika, a brackish coastal lagoon in
Odisha
,
India
, by
Chatterji (1956)
. From the banded gourami,
Trichogaster fasciata
Bloch & Schneider
(
Perciformes
:
Osphronemidae
) [as
T
.
fasciatus
Bloch & Schneider
], from Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh
,
India
by
Kakaji (1969)
. From the ricefish,
Oryzias melastigma
(McClelland)
(
Beloniformes
:
Adrianichthyidae
) [as
Aplocheilus melastigma
McClelland
], the blue
panchax
,
Aplocheilus panchax
(Hamilton)
(
Cyprinodontiformes
:
Aplocheilidae
), the flying barb,
Esomus danricus
(Hamilton) (Cyprinidae)
, and the spotted snakehead,
Channa punctata
(Bloch)
(
Perciformes
:
Channidae
) [as
Ophiocephalus punctatus
Bloch
], in a freshwater stream near Visakhapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh
,
India
by
Madhavi (1978)
.
Remarks.
Yamaguti (1971)
transferred this species to
Hamacreadium
but
Madhavi (1978)
considered it synonymous with
A
.
fasciatusi
.
Chatterji (1956)
originally considered this species to be a psilostomid because of the absence of a seminal receptacle, but psilostomids are bird and mammal parasites and
Madhavi (1978)
suggested that
Chatterji (1956)
was mistaken, as the seminal receptacle was small and inconspicuous in her specimens of
A
.
fasciatusi
. Even if the seminal receptacle is present, this species, as described by
Chatterji (1956)
, does not belong in
Hamacreadium
because the genital pore is medial and pre-bifurcal, the testes tandem, the ovary distinctly sinistral, the cirrus-sac distinctly anterior to the ventral sucker, the oral and ventral suckers equal in size and the eggs large (140–154 × 70–98 µm). This species might belong in
Eucreadium
, which comprises species from freshwater fishes of
India
, but the large eggs described by
Chatterji (1956)
are more consistent with
A
.
fasciatusi
. This combination is reasonable for the present but requires further investigation. Species of
Allocreadium
typically use lamellibranch bivalves as first intermediate hosts and are characterised by small eggs, the intestine bifurcating at the posterior margin of the ventral sucker, and vitelline follicles often restricted to the hindbody (
Caira & Bogéa 2005
).
Allocreadium fasciatusi
uses a gastropod as the primary host (
Madhavi 1978
), has large eggs, the intestine bifurcates in the forebody, and the vitelline follicles enter the forebody.