The higher classification of the Clusiidae is reviewed, and the family is divided into the subfamilies Clusiodinae, Clusiinae and the new subfamily Sobarocephalinae, all of which are (re)defined. The newly defined Clusiinae includes the genera Phylloclusia Hendel, 1917, Tetrameringia McAlpine, 1960, Amuroclusia Mamaev, 1987, Clusia Haliday, 1838, Paraclusia Czerny, 1903, Alloclusia Hendel, 1917 and Apiochaeta Czerny, 1903. The Sobarocephalinae includes the genera Sobarocephala Czerny, 1903, Procerosoma gen. n., and Chaetoclusia Coquillett, 1904. The new genus Procerosoma is described for two species, Procerosoma alini (Shatalkin) comb. n. from Brazil and P. prominens sp. n. from Mexico. Sobarocephaloides Soós, 1962 is treated as a junior synonym of Sobarocephala, and Chaetoclusia is redefined to include the monotypic genera Chaetoclusiella Soós, 1962, syn. n. and Trichoclusia Soós, 1962, syn. n. Six new species of Chaetoclusia are described (C. centrofasciata sp. n., C. amplipenis sp. n., C. transversa sp. n., C. inbionella sp. n., C. flava sp. n., and C. furva sp. n.). Chaetoclusia bakeri peruana Hennig, 1938 is included as a junior synonym of C. bakeri Coquillett, 1904. The phylogeny of Chaetoclusia is discussed and a key is provided for its 13 species.
The nematode, Camallanus xenentodoni Khan et Yaseen, 1969 recovered from the intestine of the fish, Xenentodon cancila (Ham.) from West Bengal, India was studied by light microscopy. Larval development of this nematode was also studied under laboratory conditions. Two cyclopoid copcpods, Mesocyclops crassus and M. leuckarti maintained at temperatures 28-31.5“C were infected with first-stage larvae from gravid females. In the haemocoelic cavity of the copepod the larvae moulted twice to attain third, infective stage and a phase of growth, development and morphometric changes occurred between the two moults. Detailed descriptions of the adult worms and the three larval stages are given. Data obtained from the morphological and metrical studies of the present adult worms are compared with those available on C. xenentodoni and another related species C. cancelai Gupta et Verma, 1978, which is considered as synonym of C. xenentodoni.
Gangesia parasiluri Yamaguti, 1934 (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae) is redescribed on the basis of adults obtained from the intestine of Silurus asotus Linnaeus (Teleostei: Siluridae) from Lake Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. Its life cycle was studied in the field and laboratory. Rostellar hooks of the adults showed a wide variation in number, ranging from 35 to up to 57. Plerocercoids were found in the rectum of Chaenogobius urotaenia (Hilgendorf) and Rhinogobius brunneus (Temminck et Schlegel) (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the same lake. Procercoids were formed in the haemocoel of Mesocyclops leuckarti (Claus) (Copepoda: Cyclopidae) 7 days post infection at 21-25°C. They developed into plerocercoids in the intestine of Pseudorasbora puntila pumila Miyadi (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), R. brunneus and S. asotus. Plerocercoids from naturally and experimentally infected fishes were fed to S. asotus, from which immature worms were recovered. It is considered that the life cycle involves three hosts: a copepod as the intermediate host in which procercoids are formed, small fish as paratenic hosts which retain plerocercoids and transport them into S. asotus, and S. asotus as the definitive host in which adults develop. Rostellar hooks of the adults were much fewer, much larger and arranged in fewer circles than those of the plerocercoids. It is suggested that the former are newly formed and replace the latter in an early stage of development of plerocercoids into adults in 5. asotus.
Blood smears prepared from the peripheral blood of 20 wild caught Amietia quecketti (Boulenger) from the North-West University Botanical Gardens, North West Province, South Africa, were examined for the presence of haemogregarines. A haemogregarine species comparative in morphology, host and geographical locality to that of Haemogregarina theileri Laveran, 1905 was detected. The original description of H. theileri was based solely on frog peripheral blood gamont stages. Later, further parasite stages, including trophozoites and merogonic liver stages, were recorded in a related Amietia sp. from equatorial Africa. This species was originally classified as a member of the genus Haemogregarina Danilewsky, 1885, but due to the close life cycle and morphological resemblance to those of Hepatozoon species, H. theileri was later transferred from Haemogregarina to Hepatozoon Miller, 1908. In the present study, meront and merozoite stages not described before, along with previously observed trophozoite, immature and mature gamont stages, are described from the peripheral blood of hosts. In addition, comparative phylogenetic analysis of the partial 18S rDNA sequence of Hepatozoon theileri to those of other haemogregarine species, including those of species of Hepatozoon and a Haemogregarina, support the taxonomic transfer of H. theileri to Hepatozoon, nesting H. theileri within a clade comprising species parasitising other amphibians. This is the first molecular and phylogenetic analysis of an African anuran species of Hepatozoon.
A neotype is designated for Joryma brachysoma (Pillai, 1964). The general morphology and appendages of the female and male stages are illustrated and re-described based on the neotype and several additional fresh specimens collected from the type host Pellona brachysoma Bleeker (=Sardinella brachysoma Bleeker) from nearby the type locality. The present redescription and neotype designation further resolves the taxonomic ambiguity regarding the species identification and conserves the name of J. brachysoma.
Soricinia tripartita Żarnowski, 1955 is redescribed on the basis of specimens from the type host Sorex araneus Linnaeus from Lithuania, Latvia and Russia (Republic of Karelia and Republic of Komi - a new geographical record) as well as from Sorex satunini Ognev and Sorex volnuchini Ognev from Russia (Nalchik Area in the Caucasus Mountains). The strobilar morphology of S. tripartita is compared with that of other hymenolepidid cestodes of shrews with an unarmed scolex and serial development of proglottides in the strobila, i.e. species of Mathevolepis Spassky, 1948, Ditestolepis Soltys, 1952, Spasskylepis Schaldybin, 1964, Ecrinolepis Spassky et Karpenko, 1983 and Diorchilepis Lykova, Gulyaev, Melnikova et Karpenko, 2006. It was noted that S. tripartita does not correspond to any of the known genera. The following unique characters are found for S. tripartita: heteronomous serial strobilation with one or two sterile proglottides at the end of each series in the strobila and the whole copulatory part of the vagina covered with numerous, fine spines. Therefore, the new genus Gulyaevilepis is erected, with Gulyaevilepis tripartita (Żarnowski, 1955) comb. n. as its type and only species. Since the type material of Soricinia tripartita is not known to exist, a neotype from the same host species and from a locality close to the type locality is designated.
Re-examination of the syntypes of the capillariid nematode Neocapillaria phoxini Yu et Wang, 1994, the type species of Neocapillaria Yu et Wang, 1994, described from the intestine of the freshwater fish Phoxinus lagowskii variegatus Günther (Cyprinidae) from China, confirmed its morphological similarity with species of Freitascapillaria Moravec, 1987, to which it is transferred as Freitascapillaria phoxini (Yu et Wang, 1994) comb. n. Consequently, Neocapillaria Yu et Wang, 1994 (a homonym to Neocapillaria Moravec, 1987) and Sinocapillaria Moravec et Spratt, 1998 become junior synonyms of Freitascapillaria. Skrjabinocapillaria gigantea is transferred to Freitascapillaria as F. gigantea (Wang, 1984) comb. n.
We collected specimens of Paramecops sinaitus (Pic, 1930) (Curculionidae: Molytinae) from south Sinai in Egypt, which enabled us to make the first complete description of this species. We also include some taxonomic remarks on the genus. Paramecops solenostemmatis (Peyerimhoff, 1930) is a synonym of Paramecops sinaitus. We propose the new combination Paramecops sogdianus (Nasreddinov, 1978), based on Perihylobius sogdianus Nasreddinov, 1978, which would make Perihylobius and Paramecops synonymous. Like other Paramecops species, P. sinaitus appears to share a close interaction with Asclepiads, in this case the Sinai milkweed Asclepias sinaica (Boiss.) Muschl., 1912 (Asclepiadaceae). We investigated the oviposition behaviour of female weevils to test whether it is linked to larval performance, as predicted by coevolutionary theory. We found that female oviposition preference was positively related to plant size and to the volume of the seed follicles in which the eggs were laid. The survival of eggs was negatively related to plant size, perhaps due to plant differences in the production of defensive cardenolides. Larval survival was not related to plant size but increased with follicle volume, probably as a result of competition for food. Paramecops is relatively sedentary and nocturnal in its behaviour. Night-time observations of behaviour showed that weevils were more active at lower temperatures.
Andrya cuniculi (Blanchard, 1891) (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) is redescribed from Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.) from Spain. Large ranges of variability in body length and width, testes number and position of the cirrus sac were observed. An external seminal vesicle covered with small glandular cells is present. The pattern of development of the uterus is similar to that of Andrya rhopalocephala (Riehm, 1881). The only reliable differential characters to distinguish A. cuniculi from A. rhopalocephala are the position of the uterus in gravid segments and the position of the testes in mature segments. The uterus of A. cuniculi occupies the median field and parts of the lateral fields but is restricted to the median field in A. rhopalocephala. Testes are distributed more symmetrically lateral to the female organs in A. cuniculi but are mostly antiporal in A. rhopalocephala.
Cystacanths of Corynosoma pseudohamanni Zdzitowiecki, 1984 (Palaeacanthocephala: Polymorphidae) are redescribed on the basis of specimens recovered from three species of Antarctic notothenioid fish, Trematomus bernacchii Boulenger, Gobionotothen gibberifrons (Lönnberg) and Notothenia coriiceps Richardson, collected from the Prince Gustav Channel, Antarctica. The cystacanths' morphometry and their internal anatomy including trunk muscles were studied using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The characteristic features of this species such as the length of proboscis and the number of hooks (i.e. 260 hooks arranged in 20 rows with 13 hooks each, including two basal hooks) were confirmed and the intraspecific variability was evaluated. Sexual dimorphism was manifested in the shape of the hindtrunk, and the distribution and extent of the somatic armature only. SEM observations of internal anatomy revealed the detailed organization of trunk musculature.