Menziesia Gibson, 1976

Whittington, I. D., Deveney, M. R. & Wyborn, S. J., 2001, A revision of Benedenia Diesing, 1858 including a redescription of B. sciaenae (van Beneden, 1856) Odhner, 1905 and recognition of Menziesia Gibson, 1976 (Monogenea: Capsalidae), Journal of Natural History 35 (5), pp. 663-777 : 740-745

Menziesia Gibson, 1976

Amended generic diagnosis. Capsalidae sensu Yamaguti (1963) . Benedeniinae (as amended above). Haptor with three pairs of large median sclerites (in anterior to posterior succession): accessory sclerites, anterior and posterior hamuli. Marginal valve scalloped. Ventral haptor surface apapillate. Anterior attachment organs discshaped, one on each side of anterior end, with body proper extending to their anterior edge tending to form`hooded’ appearance (®gures 1B, 35A). Prominent anterior gland cells in region of body between pharynx and anterior margin of body. Vas deferens expands forming seminal vesicle anterior to testes. Male copulatory organ an elongate penis occupying penis canal with weakly muscular wall, tapering distally (®gure 34). Penis canal and penis sigmoid. Male accessory gland supplies single, weakly muscular accessory gland reservoir dorsal and alongside, or posterior and lateral to, proximal end of penis, sharing common wall with part of penis canal (®gure 34). Germarium with internal (fertilization?) chamber. Male and female gen- ital apertures common, opening near left side of body approximately at level of pharynx. Vagina long, mostly with muscular walls and wide lumen proximally, opening marginally or near margin, dorsal or posterior to common genital pore. Eggs tetrahedral with single ®lamentous appendage. Parasites of external surfaces and gills of marine teleosts.

Type species. Menziesia noblei ( Menzies, 1946) Gibson, 1976 .

Other species. M. malaboni ( Velasquez, 1982) comb. nov.; M. merinthe ( Yamaguti, 1968) Gibson, 1976 ; M. ovalis ( Yamaguti, 1968) Gibson, 1976 ; M. sebastodis ( Yamaguti, 1934) comb. nov.

Remarks. Menziesia Gibson, 1976 has a relatively short but confused history. Menzies (1946) described the type species, M. noblei , as Benedenia noblei and noted that it possessed`high curvature of neck of cirrus pouch’ (5 penis canal). Yamaguti (1963) transferred B. noblei to Pseudobenedenia Johnston, 1931 on the basis of the length of the`cirrus pouch’ (5 penis canal) and later described three new species, P. elongata , P. merinthe and P. ovalis from Hawaii ( Yamaguti, 1968). Gibson (1976a) noted that Pseudobenedenia was no longer based upon the type species, P. nototheniae , which had been transferred earlier to the Trochopodinae (see Dillon and Hargis, 1965) and Gibson, therefore, transferred the remaining species ( P. elongata , P. merinthe , P. noblei and P. ovalis ) to a new genus, Parabenedenia . This name was a junior homonym of Parabenedenia Johnston, 1929 , a superseded subgenus of Benedenia . Subsequently, Gibson (1976b) proposed Menziesia to replace his Parabenedenia . Egorova (1997) synonymized Menziesia and all constituent species with Benedenia on the basis of an insu ciency of distinguishing characteristics between the two genera. We agree with Egorova (1997) that M. elongata belongs in Benedenia (see p. 690) because it does not possess an elongate, tapering, sigmoid penis characteristic of Menziesia . We do believe, however, that the remaining Menziesia species plus B. malaboni and B. sebastodis are su ciently distinct to warrant a separate genus to contain them. Other genera in the Benedeniinae are characterized by the arrangement of the male copulatory organ (e.g. Metabenedeniella , see Yamaguti, 1958 and Horton and Whittington, 1994; Trimusculotrema , see Whittington and Barton, 1990; Neobenedenia , see Whittington and Horton, 1996; Benedenia in this study) and we regard this feature as important taxonomically. We accept Menziesia as valid. It is characterized by an elongate, tapering penis with sigmoid shape, single accessory gland reservoir dorsal or lateral to the proximal end of the penis, and these structures occupy a sigmoid penis canal with a weakly muscular wall (®gure 34). Another distinguishing character is the presence of a long muscular vagina with a relatively wide lumen, especially proximally. Under this concept, Menziesia contains all the species previously ascribed to Benedenia with an accessory gland reservoir alongside the proximal end of the penis.