Haliotrematoides heteracantha ( Zhukov, 1976 ) 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 : 42

Haliotrematoides heteracantha ( Zhukov, 1976) n. comb.

Syn. Haliotrema heteracantha Zhukov, 1976 .

Type host and locality: Lane snapper, Lutjanus synagris (Linnaeus) (Lutjanidae) : Bay of Campeche (Area Havana).

Site of infection: Gills.

Previous records (as Haliotrema heteracantha ): Lutjanus synagris: Bay of Campeche (Area Havana) ( Zhukov 1976); Puerto Rico ( Bosques Rodríguez 2004). Lutjanus mahogoni: Bay of Campeche (Area Havana) ( Zhukov 1976); Puerto Rico ( Bosques Rodríguez 2004). Lutjanus apodus: Bay of Campeche (Area Havana) ( Zhukov 1976). Lutjanus analis : Puerto Rico ( Bosques Rodríguez 2004). Lutjanus griseus : Puerto Rico ( Bosques Rodríguez 2004). Ocyurus chrysurus: Bay of Campeche (Area Havana) ( Zhukov 1976); Puerto Rico ( Bosques Rodríguez 2004).

Remarks: Specimens of this species were not available for study. It was originally described as Haliotrema heteracantha from L. synagris by Zhukov (1976), who reported it from three additional species of snapper from the Gulf of Mexico. The original figures provided by Zhukov (1976) support the transfer of the species to Haliotrematoides as H. heteracantha ( Zhukov, 1976) n. comb.

Haliotrematoides heteracantha is similar to H. guttati , which was described from L. guttatus from the Pacific coast of Mexico, by having morphologically comparable anchors and MCO’s. The similarity is so striking that the two species may be conspecific. However, García-Vargas et al. (2008) indicate that the basal third of the shaft of the MCO of the latter species lies within a sheath (identified as an accessory piece by these authors), while Zhukov (1976) does not mention a similar structure. In addition, a sheath was not visible in the two specimens of H. guttati we collected from L. guttatus in Panama. However, these specimens were insufficient for redescription of the species, see Remarks for H. guttati . Thus, we provisionally accept both species as valid, pending re-examination of fresh material.

All or some of the records of H. heteracantha on L. synagris , L. mahogoni , L. analis , L. griseus and Ocyurus chrysurus from Puerto Rico by Bosques Rodríguez (2004) are likely to be erroneous. This is supported by Bosques Rodríguez’ (2004) figure 29 of this species, which differs from the original description of H. heteracantha by showing dorsal and ventral anchors without spurs on the inner surfaces of the anchor shafts. The specimen shown by Bosques Rodríguez (2004) may actually represent H. zhukovi or an undescribed species of Haliotrematoides .