Branchotenthes octohamatus sp. n. (Monogenea : Hexabothriidae) from the gills of the southern fiddler ray, Trygonorrhina fasciata (Rhinobatidae) in South Australia: description of adult and larva

Abstract

Branchotenthes octohamatus sp. n. (Monogenea: Hexabothriidae) is described from the gills of the southern fiddler ray, Trygonorrhina fasciata Müller et Henle (Elasmobranchii: Rhinobatidae), off Adelaide, South Australia. It is distinguished from the type species, Branchotenthes robinoverstreeti Bullard et Dippenaar, 2003, by producing eggs that are joined end to end forming a chain, in the morphology of the male copulatory organ that has a pronounced constriction in duct diameter between proximal and distal regions, the possession of a thin muscular layer surrounding the proximal part of the male copulatory organ and distal region of the vaginae, and by the absence of a raised process on the shaft of the hamulus. An amended generic diagnosis is provided and the reliability of sperm duct number as a generic character is discussed. The oncomiracidium of B. octohamatus is also described and is the first monogenean to be described with only eight hooklets in the larval haptor. This discovery of eight hooklets may be important for higher-level monogenean evolutionary hypotheses.