Folia Parasitologica 48[2] 127-131 (2001) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2001.019

Philometroides africanus sp. n. (Nematoda: Philometridae), a new tissue parasite of the African pike Hepsetus odoe (Pisces) in Botswana

František Moravec¹, Jo G. Van As²

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

² Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

A new species of philometrid nematode, Philometroides africanus sp. n., is described from female specimens found encapsulated in gill arches and inner surface of gill covers of the African pike, Hepsetus odoe (Bloch), an endemic freshwater fish in Africa, from the Okavango River and Delta in Botswana. This new nematode is characterised mainly by a markedly small and plump body of gravid females (body length 6-9 mm), a separate anterior oesophageal bulb, a conspicuously small oesophageal gland, presence of four pairs of very small submedian cephalic papillae, and absence of any caudal processes. The prevalence of P. africanus in African pike of the Okavango Delta was 29%, with the intensity 1-8 (mean 3) encapsulated nematodes per fish. The genus Margolisianum Blaylock et Overstreet, 1999 is considered a junior synonym of Philometroides Yamaguti, 1935 and, consequently, its type species is transferred to the latter as Philometroides bulbosus (Blaylock et Overstreet, 1999) comb. n.

Keywords: freshwater fish, Hepsetus, parasitic nematode, Philometroides, Botswana, Africa

Received: June 16, 2000; Accepted: October 4, 2000; Published: June 1, 2001  Show citation