Abstract
Mawsonascaris parva sp. nov. collected from the Arabian whipray Himantura randalli Last, Manjaji-Matsumoto et Moore (Rajiformes: Dasyatidae) off the coast of Iraq is described and illustrated using light and scanning electron microscopy. The new species differs from its congeners by its small body size (8.11–18.2 mm long), the absence of an intestinal caecum, the slightly unequal spicules (left and right spicule 1.08–2.50 mm and 0.98–2.01 mm long, respectively, representing 12.1–13.7% and 10.1–12.1% of body length), the number and arrangement of male caudal papillae (13–14 pairs in total, arranged as: 7–8 pairs of precloacal, 1 pair of double paracloacal and 5 pairs of postcloacal) and the presence of a single, median precloacal papilla. Thus, a total of six species of Mawsonascaris are now known and this is the first species of this genus recorded from species of Himantura.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bruce N.L., Cannon L.R.G. 1990. Ascaridoid nematodes from sharks from Australia and the Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Invertebrate Taxonomy, 4, 763–783. DOI: 10.1071/IT9900763.
Bruce N.L., Adlard R.D., Cannon L.R.G. 1994. Synoptic checklist of ascaridoid parasites (Nematoda) from fish hosts. Invertebrate Taxonomy, 8, 583–674. DOI: 10.1071/IT9940583.
Gibbons L.M. 2010. Keys to the nematode parasites of vertebrates. Supplementary volume. Wallingford, UK: CAB International, 416 pp.
Johnston T.H., Mawson P.M. 1943. Some nematodes from Australian elasmobranchs. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 67, 187–190.
Last P.R., Manjaji-Matsumoto B.M., Moore A. 2012. Himantura randalli sp. nov., a new whipray (Myliobatoidea: Dasyatidae) from the Persian Gulf. Zootaxa, 3327, 20–32.
Li L., Xu Z., Zhang L.-P. 2012. A new species of the genus Mawsonascaris Sprent, 1990 (Nematoda: Ascaridida) from Glaucostegus granulatus (Cuvier) (Rajiformes: Rhinobatidae) in the Taiwan Strait, with remarks on the systematic status of Raphidascaroides myliobatum Yin & Zhang, 1983. Journal of Natural History, 46, 1307–1319. DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2012.655341.
Mozgovoy A.A. 1950. [On the anisakid fauna of fishes and reptiles.] Trudy Gel’mintologicheskoy Laboratorii Akademii Nauk SSSR 3, 102–118. (In Russian).
Petter A.J., Paradiznik V., Radujkovic B.M., Cassone J. 1991. Redescription d’Acanthocheilus rotundatus (Ascaridoidea, Nematoda), parasite de requins (Pleurotremata, Selachii). Considérations sur les affinitiés du genre Acanthocheilus et conclusions taxonomiques. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée (n.s.), 5, 187–194.
Rudolphi C.A. 1819. ’Entozoorum synopsis cui accedent mantissa duplex et indices locupletissimi.’ (Berolini.) x + 811 pp.
Sprent J.F.A. 1990. Some ascaridoid nematodes of fishes: Paranisakis and Mawsonascaris n. g. Systematic Parasitology, 15, 41–63. DOI: 10.1007/BF00009917.
Yin W.-Z., Zhang N.-X. 1983. Notes on some nematodes of marine fishes from Fujian, China. Acta Zootaxonomic Sinica, 8, 11–16 (In Chinese, English summary). CNKI: SUN: DWFL.0.1983-01-003.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ali, A.H., Zhang, LP., Al-Salim, N.K. et al. Mawsonascaris parva sp. nov. (Nematoda: Ascaridida) from the Arabian whipray Himantura randalli Last, Manjaji-Matsumoto et Moore (Rajiformes: Dasyatidae) off the coast of Iraq. Acta Parasit. 57, 367–371 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-012-0047-0
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-012-0047-0