Ligophorus Pilengas N. Sp. (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) From the Introduced So-Iuy Mullet, Mugil Soiuy (Teleostei: Mugilidae), in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea

Abstract

The monogenean Ligophorus chabaudi was originally described on the gills of the flathead mullet, Mugil cephalus, and was subsequently reported on the So-iuy mullet, Mugil soiuy. However, the morphology of sclerotized parts and multivariate statistical analyses suggest that the form from the So-iuy mullet represents a new species. This study provides a description of the new species Ligophorus pilengas n. sp. and provides additional morphological data concerning the morphology of the ventral bar that might be useful for the diagnosis of Ligophorus. Ligophorus pilengas n. sp. is the second species of Ligophorus reported on the So-iuy mullet. Zoogeographical records indicate that L. pilengas n. sp. was probably introduced to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov from the western Pacific Ocean together with its host. Euzet and Suriano (1977) Dmitrieva and Gerasev, 1996; Ligophorus hamulosus Pan, 1999; and Ligophorus ellochelon Yang, 2001 (Euzet andSanfilippo, 1983; Gusev, 1985;Dmitrieva and Gerasev, 1996;Zhang et al. 2003). Euzet and Suriano (1977) considered that all species of Ligophorus are oioxenic, which seemed substantiated by ensuing studies (Euzet and Sanfilippo, 1983;Radujković and Raibaut, 1989; Caltran et al., 1995; Caillot et al., 1999). However, current records show that at least some species are stenoxenic. For instance, L. kaohsianghsieni, whose typical host is the So-iuy mullet, Mugil soiuy Basilewsky, has also been reported on the flathead mullet, Mugil cephalus L., and golden gray mullet, Liza aurata (Risso) (Dmitrieva, 1996;Miroshnichenko and Maltsev, 1998). Likewise, L. vanbenedenii, common on L. aurata, has also been recorded on M. cephalus, and L. macrocolpos, typical on the leaping mullet, Liza saliens (Risso), occurs also on L. aurata (Dmitrieva and Gerasev, 1996). However, the prevalence and abundance on such alternative hosts is much lower than those on the typical host of each species of Ligophorus. Apparently, the only exception to this pattern is L. chabaudi be- cause it occurs typically on M. cephalus; however, according to previous studies and our own data, it also shows high prevalence (87-100%) and abundance (up to 736 individuals) on adult So-iuy mullets (Dmitrieva, 1996; Sarabeev and Domnich, 2000).In this article, we compared the morphology of haptoral and genital sclerotized parts and conducted a linear discriminant analysis of metrical features of putative L. chabaudi from M. cephalus and M. soiuy. The results suggest that the form from M. soiuy probably represents a new species, Ligophorus pilengas n. sp., which is described in this article.

Parasite fauna of Golden Grey Mullet Liza aurata (Risso, 1810) collected from Lower Kızılırmak Delta in Samsun, Turkey

“…The number of parasite species (10) identified here is similar to that reported by Merella and Garippa (2001) and Ragias et al (2005) but, far more than that of Dmitrieva and Gaevskaya (2001), Özer and Öztürk (2004), Mariniello et al (2004), Sarabeev and Balbuena (2004) (Urawa, 1992). Host specificity in trichodinids appears variable, Trichodina puytoraci and T. lepsii have been reported from mugilids including Liza aurata in different environment by several authors (see Table 1).…”

Ligophorus uruguayense sp. nov. (Monogenea, Ancyrocephalidae), a gill parasite from Mugil platanus (Mugiliformes, Mugilidae) in Uruguay

“…Description: Worms with characters of the genus as defined by Euzet and Suriano (1977) and supplemented by Sarabeev and Balbuena (2004). Table II shows the morphometric measurements of fixed and live specimens of the studied species and those of L. huitrempe (Southern Pacific Ocean) and L. mugilinus (Hargis 1955) (North Atlantic Ocean) for comparison.…”

“…The genus Ligophorus was established for species recovered from Mediterranean mugilids. In the Northern Hemisphere, new species of Ligophorus were found parasitizing mugilid species from the Black Sea, Azov Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pacific Ocean (Dmitrieva and Gerasev 1996;Sarabeev and Balbuena 2004;Sarabeev et al 2005;Rubtsova et al 2006Rubtsova et al , 2007Dmitrieva et al 2007). In the Southern Hemisphere the only species so far described is L. huitrempe Fernández Bargiela, 1987 from a mugilid in the Chilean coast, Pacific Ocean.…”

Ligophorus pilengas Sarabeev & Balbuena, 2004 (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) is proposed as the senior synonym of L. gussevi Miroshnichenko & Maltsev, 2004

“…Both species, together with L. mugilinus (Hargis, 1955), have also been reported on so-iuy mullets from both the East and the South China Seas. (Ji et al, 1982;Wu et al, 1991) and from Sea of Azov and the Black Sea (Dmitrieva, 1996;Maltsev & Zhdamirov, 1996;Maltsev & Miroshnichenko, 1998;Domnich & Sarabeev, 1999, 2000aSarabeev, 2000;. Recently two new species, L. pilengas Sarabeev &Balbuena, 2004 andL.…”

“…

Ligophorus pilengas Sarabeev &Balbuena, 2004 and L. gussevi Miroshnichenko &Maltsev, 2004, both recently described as new species from the so-iuy mullet Mugil soiuy in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, were compared. A morphometric analysis of both forms strongly suggests that they represent the same species.

…”