title: Redescription and life cycle of the monorchiid Postmonorcheides maclovini Szidat, 1950 (Digenea) from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean: Morphological and molecular data.
abstract: The adult monorchiid, Postmonorcheides maclovini Szidat, 1950, digenean parasite of the Patagonian blennie Eleginops maclovinus (Cuvier) (Eleginopidae) from Puerto Deseado (47° 45' S, 65° 55' W), Argentina, was characterized and its life cycle elucidated. P. maclovinus is the only species of the genus Postmonorcheides, proposed by Szidat (1950) from Tierra del Fuego province (~54° S), Argentina. This digenean uses the Patagonian blennie as definitive host, and the intertidal bivalve Lasaea adansoni (Gmelin) (Lasaeidae) as both first and second intermediate hosts (metacercariae encyst inside sporocysts), being the first record of this clam as intermediate host of trematode parasites. The cercaria may, in addition to encysting in the sporocyst, emerge and presumably infect other intermediate hosts. This is the second report of a monorchiid species with metacercariae encysting inside the sporocyst. Adults were found parasitizing the fish stomach, pyloric caeca and intestine with a prevalence of 100%; sporocysts with cercariae and/or metacercariae were found parasitizing the gonad of the bivalve with a prevalence of 2.78%. The cercariae possess a well-developed tail and eye-spots are absent. The ITS1 sequence from the adult digeneans found in the Patagonian blennie, identified as P. maclovini, was found to be identical to the ITS1 sequences obtained both from sporocysts containing cercariae and encysted metacercariae found in L. adansoni.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional Patagónico (CONICET), Bvd. Brown 2915, U9120ACF Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Electronic address: bagnato@cenpat-conicet.gob.ar.
authors.forename: Estefanía
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bagnato
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional Patagónico (CONICET), Bvd. Brown 2915, U9120ACF Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Electronic address: gilardoni@cenpat-conicet.gob.ar.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gilardoni
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fish Pathology and Immunology, ICBAS-Abel Salazar Institute for the Biomedical Science, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: smpina@icbas.up.pt.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pina
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fish Pathology and Immunology, ICBAS-Abel Salazar Institute for the Biomedical Science, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; Iron and Innate Immunity Group, IBMC-Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: prodrigu@ibmc.up.pt.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional Patagónico (CONICET), Bvd. Brown 2915, U9120ACF Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Electronic address: fcremont@cenpat-conicet.gob.ar.
authors.forename: Florencia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cremonte
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000469:parasitology; D058487:Cercaria / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D018509:DNA, Helminth; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D033661:Oocysts / Q000166:cytology; D010473:Perciformes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000469:parasitology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014200:Trematoda / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D018509:DNA, Helminth
keywords: Eleginops maclovinus; Lasaea adansoni; Life cycle; Monorchiidae; Patagonian coast; Postmonorcheides maclovini