Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Two New and Two Already Known Species of the Genus Pallisentis (Acanthocephala: Quadrigyridae) from India with an Update in Key to the Species Author Rana, Khushboo 0000-0001-8177-5710 Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India. rana. khushboo 961 @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 8177 - 5710 rana.khushboo961@gmail.com Author Kaur, Harpreet Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India. text Zootaxa 2023 2023-10-05 5352 4 577 593 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5352.4.8 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5352.4.8 1175-5326 8426654 E6E8FC63-6356-465F-A878-2EA58C993299 Species: Pallisentis gomtii Gupta and Verma, 1980 Host Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793) Locality : Beas River , Dehra Gopipur , Himachal Pradesh ( 31.90°N , 76.22°E ), India Site of infection: Small intestine Specimens submitted: Registration number– HARC/ZSI/AC– 7 in slide P7 containing voucher specimens male and female stained in Gower’s carmine mounted with DPX were submitted to High Altitude Regional Centre– Zoological Survey of India , Solan, India . Sequences generated: The sequences submitted to the NCBI database on the basis of 18S, 28S, and ITS1 – 5.8S – ITS have been allotted accession number OM480739 , OM480744 , and OM501880 , respectively. Specimens examined: 4 males and 5 females Remarks The specimens recovered in the present study showed variability in few morphological characteristics in comparison to the original description in the overall length of the male and female specimens including size of the proboscis hooks and difference in the range of the size of the male reproductive organs, including testes, cement gland, and cement reservoir. The length of specimens in the present study is comparatively longer and the average size of proboscis hooks in 4 circles is longer in male. The average size of proboscis receptacle is slightly larger in the specimens of present study in male, whereas its size overlaps in case of the female. The average size of anterior and posterior testes in the original description is smaller in comparison to the specimens isolated in this study. Similarly, the average size of cement reservoir and saefftigen’s pouch is observed to be longer in the present specimens. Average size of cement gland in the present specimens measures 1422.6 × 136.8 with 24–27 cement gland nuclei (not mentioned in the original description).