New species of Cardicola (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) from heart of Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), of the South Atlantic Bight

J Parasitol. 2012 Apr;98(2):328-32. doi: 10.1645/GE-2893.1. Epub 2011 Oct 21.

Abstract

Cardicola parvus n. sp. (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) infects the heart of Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus (Linnaeus, 1766) (Perciformes: Sciaenidae), in the South Atlantic Bight off Cow Island (34°38'49″N, 76°33'41″W, type locality) and Figure Eight Island (34°15'48″N, 77°44'27″W), North Carolina, USA, and off Jacksonville Beach (30°08'23″N, 81°20'52″W), Florida, USA. The new species is most easily differentiated from other members of Cardicola Short, 1953 by the combination of having a minute adult body (≤ 1 mm total length) that is 3.1-4.7× longer than wide, widely dispersed ventral tegumental sensory papillae, ~180 tegumental spine rows per side of body, a spheroid anterior sucker that is apparently aspinous, an esophagus that is 38-39% of the body total length, a male genital pore that is anterior to the ootype, a uterus that transitions from ascending to descending portions posterolaterally to the ovary, and a nearly transverse oviducal seminal receptacle. The new species is the second named aporocotylid from a littoral fish of the South Atlantic Bight and the fifth aporocotylid species reported from fishes of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Atlantic Ocean / epidemiology
  • Fish Diseases / epidemiology
  • Fish Diseases / parasitology*
  • Florida / epidemiology
  • Heart / parasitology*
  • North Carolina / epidemiology
  • Perciformes / parasitology*
  • Trematoda / anatomy & histology
  • Trematoda / classification*
  • Trematode Infections / epidemiology
  • Trematode Infections / parasitology
  • Trematode Infections / veterinary*