Description of Neolepidapedoides subantarcticus sp. nov. (Digenea, Lepocreadiidae) from sub-Antarctic notothenioid fishes

• Published in: Acta Parasitologica
• Main Authors: Jeżewski, Witold, Zdzitowiecki, Krzysztof, Laskowski, Zdzisław
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2011
• Subjects: Parasitology; Antarctic; Argentina; Ushuaia; Antarc*; Tierra del Fuego
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/s11686-011-0061-7; http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.2478/s11686-011-0061-7.pdf; http://link.springer.com/article/10.2478/s11686-011-0061-7/fulltext.html; http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.2478/s11686-011-0061-7

Abstract Neolepidapedoides subantarcticus sp. nov. (Digenea, Lepocreadiidae) is reported from the intestine, mainly the jejunum, of fishes in the eastern mouth of the Beagle Channel and in the harbour of Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) at a depth 7–30 m. The typical host is Patagonotothen longipes, other hosts are P. tessellata, P. brevicauda and Champsocephalus esox. The male terminal genitalia indicates that the new species belongs to the genus Neolepidapedoides (Lepocreadiidae, Lepocreadiinae). The most important taxonomic features are the presence of eye-spots, the spined tegument, the “Opechona-type” cirrus-sac, the external seminal vesicle free in the parenchyma, the gonads arranged in tandem, the vitelline follicles extending from the level of the oesophagus in the forebody to the posterior end of the body and an I-shaped excretory vesicle reaching to the intestinal bifurcation and the absence of a pseudoesophagus. Ten previously described species differ from the N. subantarcticus sp. nov. mainly in the extent of the vitelline fields and length of the excretory vesicle which reaches into forebody.