Gyrodactylus jarocho sp. nov. and Gyrodactylus xalapensis sp. nov. (Platyhelminthes: Monogenea) from Mexican poeciliids (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes), with comments on the known gyrodactylid fauna infecting poeciliid fish
Author
Rubio-Godoy, Miguel
Author
Paladini, Giuseppe
Author
García-Vásquez, Adriana
text
Zootaxa
2010
2509
1
29
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.196033
a86ba3e8-b241-4166-a37a-5abb4b60edcc
1175-5326
196033
Gyrodactylus rasini
Lucký, 1973
(
Figure 24
;
Tables 4
and 7)
Type
host:
Xiphophorus hellerii
Heckel
(“green swordtail”, “cola de espada verde”).
Site of infection:
Gills.
Type
locality:
Not known.
Type
material examined:
Four
paratypes
(
BMNH
1994.11.24.13–18).
Comments:
Type
locality not known as the original description of
G. rasini
was based on parasites collected from aquarium fish (
Lucký 1973
). The distribution range of the host
X. hellerii
spans the Atlantic coast of
México
,
Belize
,
Guatemala
and
Honduras
(
Froese & Pauly 2009
). Specimens identified as
G. bullatarudis
by
Harris (1986)
were reassigned to
G. r a s i n i
by
Richards
et al.
(2000)
, and their measurements are reviewed in Table 7.
While the marginal hooks sickles of
G. r a s i n i
can be readily discriminated from those of
G. j a ro c h o
sp. nov.
based principally on the shape of the sickle base (
Figure 25
), their discrimination from
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
should be supported by information drawn from other haptoral elements and the MCO. If the dimensions of the two latter species are compared, then the ranges for both species also closely coincide,
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
being towards the upper end of the range of measurements reported for each structure. Only the length of the dorsal bar of
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
is apparently longer than that of
G. r a s i n i
(
av.
22.2 (19.4–25.7)
c.f.
13– 19 (
Lucký 1973
;
Harris 1986
;
Richards
et al
. 2000
)) - although the four
paratypes
re-measured in this study had on average 22.7 µm (21.5–23.4) long dorsal bars (
Table 4
). When the hamuli of the two species are compared, those of
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
are more robust, with longer ventral bar articulation regions and more pronounced dorsal bar attachment points. Although the ventral bars of both species are also similar, the membrane of
G. rasini
is more rhomboid in shape while that of
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
is lingulate. The armature of the MCO differs between the two species. The MCO of
G. rasini
is observed to possess a large spine facing 5–6 small spines (current study;
4–7 in
the literature). The MCO of
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
, by comparison, possesses a large spine facing 2 medium-sized, upwardly pointing, terminal spines and 2 small, central spines. Given the morphological similarity of these two species, PCA was used to investigate whether they formed discrete clusters (
Figures 30
,
31
). The first PCA (
Figure 30
), which included all specimens considered in this study, suggested some overlap between the two gyrodactylids (labelled d and m). The subsequent removal of
G. costaricensis
,
G. gambusiae
,
G. j a ro c h o
sp. nov.
,
G. milleri
and
G. turnbulli
and the re-analysis of the remaining specimens, indicated that
G. r a s i n i
and
G. x a l a p e n s i s
sp. nov.
formed discrete groups (
Figure 31
). The component loadings determined for each variable for the second PCA indicated that the hamulus point curve angle and the lengths of the marginal hook and its shaft are key to the separation of
G. rasini
from
G. xalapaensis
sp. nov.
through Factor2 (
Table 5
). This is confirmed when the average values for each of these variables is considered (
i.e.
13.5° (hamulus point curve angle), 22.8 µm (marginal hook total length) and 17.5 µm (marginal hook shaft length) for
G. r a s i n i
and 6.7°, 25.8 µm and 20.9 µm for
G. xalapensis
sp. nov.
, respectively) (see
Tables 3
and
4
).