title: Three new species of blood flukes (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) infecting pufferfishes (Teleostei: Tetraodontidae) from off Bali, Indonesia.
abstract: We describe three new species of blood flukes (Aporocotylidae) and propose their classification within the genus Psettarium Goto & Ozaki, 1929. All three species were collected from the circulatory systems of pufferfishes caught off Bali, central Indonesia. Psettarium pulchellum n. sp. was found in the gills of both the narrow-lined puffer (Arothron manilensis de Procé) and the spiny blaasop (Tylerius spinosissimus Regan), while P. ogawai n. sp. and P. jimbaranense n. sp. were found in the gills of the reticulated puffer (Arothron reticularis Bloch & Schneider). The morphological characteristics of these taxa necessitated emendation of the diagnosis for the genus Psettarium, to accommodate the presence of an oral sucker, multiple or entirely post-caecal testes and a degenerate posterior testis. Features such as proportion of body length occupied by the oesophagus, and posterior caeca being ≥7× the length of anterior caeca, are no longer regarded as useful genus-level characters. Additionally, Sasala nolani is reassigned to this genus as Psettarium nolani n. comb. In phylogenetic analyses of the 28S and ITS2 rDNA regions, all three new taxa form a well-supported clade, together with Psettarium sinense and Psettarium nolani n. comb., the two other species of tetraodontid-infecting aporocotylids for which comparative rDNA data were available. The short branch lengths within this clade, despite dramatic morphological differences between the five species, suggest that rapid morphological diversification has occurred among the tetraodontid-infecting aporocotylids. The genus Psettarium has long been considered problematic. Further commentary is given on the history of this genus and how the issues presented might be resolved.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. Electronic address: rqy.yong@uqconnect.edu.au.
authors.forename: R Q-Y
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Cutmore
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bray
authors.affiliation: Fish Health Laboratory, Department of Fisheries Western Australia, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth, Western Australia 6151, Australia; Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sudirman Campus, Universitas Udayana, Jalan Kampus Udayana, Denpasar 80361, Indonesia.
authors.forename: I W Y
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Semarariana
authors.affiliation: The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sudirman Campus, Universitas Udayana, Jalan Kampus Udayana, Denpasar 80361, Indonesia; Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Aquaculture and Sea-ranching, University Rostock, Justus-von-Liebig Weg 6, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Cribb
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D007214:Indonesia; D008297:Male; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / Q000235:genetics; D012551:Schistosomatidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D023721:Tetraodontiformes / Q000469:parasitology*; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S
keywords: Blood flukes; Coral Triangle; Degenerate posterior testes; Psettarium; Speciation