Blasco-Costa, I.; Montero, F. E.; Balbuena, J. A.; Raga, J. A.; Kostadinova, A. (2009). A revision of the Haploporinae Nicoll, 1914 (Digenea: Haploporidae) from mullets (Mugilidae): Dicrogaster Looss, 1902 and Forticulcita Overstreet, 1982. Systematic Parasitology. 72(3): 187-206.
Blasco-Costa, I.; Montero, F. E.; Balbuena, J. A.; Raga, J. A.; Kostadinova, A.
2009
A revision of the Haploporinae Nicoll, 1914 (Digenea: Haploporidae) from mullets (Mugilidae): Dicrogaster Looss, 1902 and Forticulcita Overstreet, 1982
Systematic Parasitology
72(3): 187-206
Publication
The status of the nominal species of Dicrogaster is re-assessed by means of a comparative morphological study based on newly collected material from the western Mediterranean and a critical evaluation of the published data. D. perpusilla Looss, 1902 (type-species) and D. contracta Looss, 1902 are redescribed on the basis of new material from Liza spp. D. fragilis Fernández Bargiela, 1987 is considered a junior synonym of D. fastigata Thatcher & Sparks, 1958 and D. maryutensis Al-Bassel, 1990 is considered to be nomen nudum. A key to the recognised species of Dicrogaster is presented. A new species of Forticulcita Overstreet, 1982 is described from Mugil cephalus L. in the Spanish Mediterranean and differentiated from the type-species, F. glabra Overstreet, 1982, and the recently described F. mugilis Hassanine, 2007 by its significantly smaller body size and most of its metrical data. The new species, F. gibsoni n. sp., is characterised by a narrow 'neck' region anterior to the genital pore and a long striated 'tail' region in the hindbody which is devoid of organs, such that the bulk of the uterus is restricted to the anterior half of the hindbody and the testis is located more anteriorly. F. gibsoni differs from F. glabra in having a longer forebody, smaller sucker width ratio and larger eggs, and from F. mugilis in having a smaller sucker width ratio, a hermaphroditic sac much longer than the ventral sucker and smaller eggs. The three Mediterranean forms, D. perpusilla, D. contracta and F. gibsoni are further distinguished by multivariate analyses. Keys to the species of both genera are presented.
