Three new genera of rhinebothriidean cestodes from stingrays in Southeast Asia

A new genus and three new species of Anthocephaliidae (Cestoda, Rhinebothriidea) from the round fantail stingray,Taeniurops grabata(Chondrichthyes, Dasyatidae) from the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean

“…The lack of a myzorhynchus in adult form easily distinguishes Alveobothrium gen. n. from Clydonobothrium Euzet, 1959, Echeneibothrium Van Beneden, 1850, Notomegarhynchus Ivanov & Campbell, 2002, Phormobothrium Alexander, 1963, Pseudanthobothrium Baer, 1956 and Tritaphros Lönnberg, 1889. It can further be distinguished from Zyxibothrium Hayden & Campbell, 1981 and all the eight valid genera of Rhinebothriidae (Healy et al , 2009; Caira et al ., 2017) in its possession, rather than lack, of an apical sucker with rounded protrusions on each bothrium. Beyond the presence of apical sucker, the new genus also differs from Cairaeanthus Kornyushin & Polyakova, 2012 by the bothridia not bifid posteriorly and the presence of some vitelline follicles in the posterior margins of the proglottid.…”

“…Five valid genera, consisting of Anthocephalum , Barbeaucestus , Sungaicestus , Alveobothrium gen. n. and possibly also Cairaeanthus , are now considered to belong to the Anthocephaliidae (see Ruhnke et al , 2015, 2017; Caira et al , 2017). The proglottid anatomy of Alveobothrium gen. n. is relatively consistent with that of the former three genera.…”

“…As noted by Caira et al . (2017), the proglottid anatomy of Cairaeanthus is distinct, with the presence of multiple columns of small testes, the vitelline follicles do not extend posterior to ovary and the vas deferens apparently does not extend posterior to cirrus sac.…”

“…However, the meaning and the phylogenetic significance of the apical sucker remains problematic. In the genus Divaricobothrium , the anteriormost feature of the bothridia is considered by Caira et al (2017) as a loculus rather than apical sucker. The apical sucker seems to be absent in the bothridia of Cairaeanthus , but Ruhnke et al (2015) and Caira et al (2017) stated that the feature may be overlooked in whole-mounted specimens.…”

Description of a new species of rhinebothriidean tapeworm from the skate Dipturus batis in the Mediterranean Sea

“…Globally, several studies have focused on the taxonomy, systematics, distribution, and host specificity of tapeworms infecting elasmobranchs (e.g. Euzet, 1959; Alexander, 1963; Williams, 1966, 1968, 1969; Caira et al ., 1999, 2017a; Jensen, 2005; Tyler, 2006; Randhawa and Burt, 2008; Ruhnke, 2011; Caira and Jensen, 2017). Many outcomes were the subject of passionate discussions, others spurred complementary or corrective research, especially regarding the advance of taxonomic and systematics research with the advent of molecular tools (e.g.…”