New species of Cardicola (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) from heart of Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), of the South Atlantic Bight.
Cardicola parvus n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) infects the heart of Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Linnaeus, 1766) (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), in the South Atlantic Bight off Cow Island (34°38'49″N, 76°33'41″W, type locality) and Figure Eight Island (34°15'48″N, 77°44'27″W), North Carolina, USA, and off Jacksonville Beach (30°08'23″N, 81°20'52″W), Florida, USA. The new species is most easily differentiated from other members of Cardicola Short, 1953 by the combination of having a minute adult body (≤ 1 mm total length) that is 3.1-4.7× longer than wide, widely dispersed ventral tegumental sensory papillae, ~180 tegumental spine rows per side of body, a spheroid anterior sucker that is apparently aspinous, an esophagus that is 38-39% of the body total length, a male genital pore that is anterior to the ootype, a uterus that transitions from ascending to descending portions posterolaterally to the ovary, and a nearly transverse oviducal seminal receptacle. The new species is the second named aporocotylid from a littoral fish of the South Atlantic Bight and the fifth aporocotylid species reported from fishes of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
Aquatic Parasitology Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, College of Agriculture, Auburn University, 203 Swingle Hall, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA. ash.bullard@auburn.edu
Stephen A
SA
Bullard
Tiffany
T
Baker
Isaure
I
de Buron
D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean / Q000453:epidemiology; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006321:Heart / Q000469:parasitology*; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D010473:Perciformes / Q000469:parasitology*; D014200:Trematoda / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*