title: The morphology and systematics of Rhabdochona paski Baylis, 1928 (Nematoda: Rhabdochonidae), a widespread parasite of freshwater fishes in Africa.
abstract: Nematodes of the genus Rhabdochona Railliet, 1916, identified as R. paski Baylis, 1928, were collected from the intestine of Hydrocynus forskahlii (Cuvier) (Characiformes: Alestidae), Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus) and Tilapia zillii (Gervais) (both Perciformes: Cichlidae) from Lake Turkana, Kenya during 2007-2009. Their morphology was studied in detail using light and scanning electron microscopy. Paratypes of R. paski and museum specimens of R. congolensis Campana-Rouget, 1961 from six other host species were examined for comparison. Based on these studies and the available literature data, Rhabdochona congolensis, R. aegyptiaca El-Nafar & Saoud, 1974 (emend.) and R. vesterae Boomker & Petter, 1993 are considered to be junior synonyms of R. paski. The occurrence of this widely distributed African nematode in many fish species belonging to different families and orders suggests that most of them are probably not definitive hosts of this parasite, but only serve as paratenic, paradefinitive or postcyclic hosts (sensu Odening, 1976). True definitive hosts of R. paski appear to be characiform species belonging to some genera (e.g., Alestes, Brycinus, Hydrocynus) of the family Alestidae.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic. moravec@paru.cas.cz
authors.forename: František
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moravec
authors.forename: Harrison
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Charo-Karisa
authors.forename: Miloslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jirků
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D060125:Characiformes / Q000469:parasitology*; D023681:Cichlids / Q000469:parasitology*; D005618:Fresh Water; D007422:Intestines / Q000469:parasitology; D008853:Microscopy; D013151:Spiruroidea / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology* / Q000302:isolation & purification