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Two new and one newly recorded gonad-infecting species of Philometra Costa, 1845 (Nematoda: Philometridae) parasitising marine fishes in Iraq

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Abstract

Specimens of two undescribed and one known gonad-infecting species of Philometra Costa, 1845 (Nematoda: Philometridae) were collected in some marine fishes from off the southern coast of Iraq. Based on light and scanning electron microscopy, the following new species are described: Philometra tayeni n. sp. (males and nongravid females) from ovaries of the purple-spotted bigeye Priacanthus tayenus Richardson (Priacanthidae, Acanthuriformes), and Philometra nibeae n. sp. (males and gravid female) from the ovary of the blotched croaker Nibea maculata (Bloch et Schneider) (Sciaenidae, Acanthuriformes). Philometra tayeni is mainly characterised by a pair of postanal papillae and a V-shaped caudal mound in males and by their body lengths (2.42–2.99 mm), whereas P. nibeae differs from its gonad-infecting congeners parasitising scienids mainly based on the body length of males (2.29–2.49 mm) and their spicules (96–117 µm), absence of a pair of postanal papillae and shape of caudal mound consisting of two parts. Philometra piscaria Moravec & Justine, 2014 (males and nongravid females), a parasite of the orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton) (Epinephelidae, Perciformes), is recorded from the Arabian (= Persian) Gulf for the first time; previously unknown females of this species are described.

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Data Availability

All samples used in this study have been deposited in the relevant curated, internationally recognised museum collection as outlined in this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah for support of the work. Thanks are also due to the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy, Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS, institution supported by the MEYS CR (LM2015062 Czech-BioImaging) and ERDF (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001775), for their support with obtaining the scientific data presented in this paper, and to Blanka Škoríková of the same Institute for help with the illustrations. This study was partly supported by the institutional support of the Institute of Parasitology, BC AS CR (RVO: 60077344).

Funding

This study was partly supported by the institutional support of the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO: 60077344 awarded to FM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    František Moravec

  2. Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq

    Hassan A. Fazaa, Atheer H. Ali & Hussein A. Saud

  3. Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, University of Muthana, Samawah, Iraq

    Hassan A. Fazaa

Authors
  1. František Moravec
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  2. Hassan A. Fazaa
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  3. Atheer H. Ali
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  4. Hussein A. Saud
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Contributions

HAF, AHA and HAS obtained the samples and undertook the processing for morphological identification of the nematodes. František Moravec carried out the identification and morphological analysis, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to František Moravec.

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František Moravec is a member of the Editorial Board of Systematic Parasitology.

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Moravec, F., Fazaa, H.A., Ali, A.H. et al. Two new and one newly recorded gonad-infecting species of Philometra Costa, 1845 (Nematoda: Philometridae) parasitising marine fishes in Iraq. Syst Parasitol 100, 439–453 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-023-10096-2

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