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
Sclerocollum
Schmidt et Paperna, 1978
The acanthocephalan genus
Sclerocollum
was erected by
Schmidt and Paperna (1978)
for
S
.
rubrimaris
Schmidt et Paperna, 1978
from the intestine of three fish species (
Siganus rivulatus
,
S
.
rostratus
and
Pseudobalistes fuscus
) in the Gulf of Eilat, Red Sea. They referred the genus to the family
Rhadinorhynchidae Travassos, 1923
and subfamily
Gorgorhynchinae
Van Cleave et Lincicome, 1940, differentiating it from
Neorhadinorhynchus
Yamaguti, 1939
by the conspicuous sclerotised plaques which are embedded in the tegument at the anterior region of the trunk (versus absent) and by the basal hooks of the proboscis which alternate with each other (versus arranged at the same level to form a ring). These two characteristics were also observed by
Schmidt and Paperna (1978)
in the original specimens of
Neorhadinorhynchus robustus
(Edmonds, 1964) Golvan, 1969
(from
Siganus lineatus
on the Southern Great Barrier Reef). Therefore, they transferred this species to
Sclerocollum
as a new combination. In their revision of the family
Diplosentidae Tubangui et Masiluñgan, 1937
, Pichelin and Cribb (2001) transferred
Neorhadinorhynchus
and
Sclerocollum
to family
Cavisomidae Meyer, 1932
, and on the basis of a striking similarity, they considered them as synonyms of
Diplosentis
Tubangui et Masiluñgan, 1937
. Accordingly, all species of
Neorhadinorhynchus
and
Sclerocollum
were transferred by Pichelin and Cribb (2001) to
Diplosentis
as new combinations.
Hassanine (2006)
agreed with Pichelin and Cribb (2001) in transferring
Sclerocollum
to family
Cavisomidae
, but retained it as a valid genus, stating that in its members, the basal hooks of proboscis alternate with each other (not forming ring), a character lacking in
Diplosentis
and its synonym, i.e.
Neorhadinorhynchus
, where the basal hooks of proboscis are at the same level and forming a ring. Accordingly, 2 species of
Sclerocollum
are currently recognized, i.e.
S
.
rubrimaris
Schmidt et Paprena, 1978
(
type
species) and
S
.
robustus
(Edmonds, 1964) Schmidt et Paprena, 1978
.