Haliotrematoides noncalcaris ( Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1971 ) Kritsky, Delane C., Tingbao, Yang & Yuan, Sun, 2009

Kritsky, Delane C., Tingbao, Yang & Yuan, Sun, 2009, Dactylogyrids (Monogenoidea, Polyonchoinea) parasitizing the gills of snappers (Perciformes, Lutjanidae): Proposal of Haliotrematoides n. gen. and descriptions of new and previously described species from marine fishes of the Red Sea, the eastern and Indo-west Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, Zootaxa 1970 (1970), pp. 1-51 : 19

Haliotrematoides noncalcaris ( Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1971) n. comb.

( Figs. 30–35)

Syns Haliotrema noncalcaris Bychowsky & Nagibina, 1971 ; Haliotrema tachypliformis Wang, Liu & Zhou, 2003 .

Source of current specimens: South China Sea near Zhanjiang , Guangdong Province, China, 16 July 2004 .

Type host and locality: Mangrove red snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (Forsskål) (Lutjanidae) : off Hainan Island, South China Sea

Site of infection: Gills.

Specimens studied: 4 paratypes, ZIAC 2809 , 2811 , 2812 , 2813 ; 4 voucher specimens, USNPC 101335 .

Previous records: Lutjanus argentimaculatus (as Haliotrema noncalcaris ): off Hainan Island, South China Sea ( Bychowsky & Nagibina 1971); Penang, Malaysia ( Leong & Colorni 2002). Lethrinus nebulosus (as Haliotrema tachypliformis ): Shenzhen (22 o 27' to 22 o 52'N, 113 o 46' to 114 o 37'E), Guangdong Province, China ( Wang et al. 2003). Sciaenops ocellatus (as Haliotrema tachypliformis ): Shenzhen (22 o 27' to 22 o 52'N, 113 o 46' to 114 o 37'E), Guangdong Province, China ( Wang et al. 2003). The hosts for the latter two records are erroneous (see Remarks for H. brachyflagellocirrus ).

Redescription: Lateral margins of body usually parallel; greatest width usually at level of MCO. Cephalic lobes moderately developed. Posterior eyes with lenses; one member of anterior pair infrequently absent. Pharynx subspherical to ovate. Testis ovate; seminal vesicle an inconspicuous elongate dilation of vas deferens; MCO comprising proximal broad base, tapered tubular shaft with distal counterclockwise coil having less than one complete ring; prostatic reservoir pyriform, lying to right of MCO, with distal end tapered and bent anteriorly before entering base of MCO. Germarium irregular in shape; vaginal pore simple within slight tegumental indentation; vaginal vestibule absent; vaginal canal broad, extending straight to relatively large seminal receptacle anterior to germarium. Ventral anchor with well-developed roots, elongate slightly curved shaft with reduction in diameter shortly after arising from base, recurved point with delicate superficial grooves. Dorsal anchor with large perforated base having heavy superficial root and knob-like deep root, slightly curved shaft, recurved point with light superficial grooves. Ventral bar with two submedial pockets along anterior margin, posterior shield-like process having bilateral bulbous expansions; dorsal bar broadly U or V shaped. Hook distribution not determined.

Measurements (measurements of paratypes follow those of voucher specimens in brackets, respectively): Body 584 (518–665; n = 4) long; greatest width 107 (97–123; n = 4). Haptor 131 (124–138; n = 4) long, 90 (68–108; n = 4) wide. Pharynx 32 (29–35; n = 4) wide. MCO 44 (42–45; n = 4) [51 (49–53; n = 4)] long. Ventral anchor 81 (79–83; n = 4) [86 (83–89; n = 4)] long; dorsal anchor 96 (94–99; n = 4) [98 (93–103; n = 4)] long. Ventral bar 32 (30–34; n = 4) long; dorsal bar 42 (40–45; n = 4) long. Hook 13 (12–14; n = 3) [13 (12–14; n = 10)] long. Germarium 58 (53–62; n = 2) long, 47 (44–49; n = 2) wide; testis 94 (91–96; n = 2) long, 61 (51–70; n = 2) wide.

Remarks: Haliotrema noncalaris was described by Bychowsky & Nagibina (1971) from the gills of L. argentimaculatus from the environs of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The species is transferred to Haliotrematoides based on the configurations of its internal organ systems and on the comparative morphology of its haptor, haptoral and copulatory sclerites. It closely resembles H. noncalcaroides and H. brachyflagellocirrus , both parasites of the mangrove red snapper, in the comparative morphology of the MCO. It is differentiated from these species by having larger and more robust anchor/bar complexes.

Although access to the type specimens of Haliotrema tachypliformis was not permitted, this species is considered a junior subjective synonym of Haliotrematoides noncalcaris , based on comparison of the drawings provided by Wang et al. (2003) with specimens of H. noncalaris available during the present study. The synonymy is further supported by the identifications of Lethrinus nebulosus and Sciaenops ocellatus as hosts for both H. tachypliformis and H. brachyflagellocirrus by Wang et al. (2003), with Wang et al. (2003) apparently mistaking the mangrove red snapper ( Lutjanus argentimaculatus ) to be the lethrinid, Lethrinus nebulosus (see Remarks for H. brachyflagellocirrus ).