Dactylogyrids (Monogenea) parasitizing African tetras (Characiformes: Alestidae) in Zimbabwe
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The Alestidae, often called “African tetras”, is the most speciose (with about 120 species) family of characiform fishes in Africa. These fishes are known to be parasitized by monogeneans representing 3 genera of the Dactylogyridae: Annulotrema, Characidotrema and Afrocleidodiscus. During several field campaigns in Senegal (2004 – 2008), Kenya (2008 - 2009), Sudan (2008) and Zimbabwe (2011 – 2012), a total of 15 species of the Alestidae have been examined for monogeneans and more than 30 monogenean species (3 genera) of the Dactylogyridae were found. Our current research dealing with the taxonomic evaluation of monogeneans collected from 2 species (2 genera, i.e. Hydrocynus and Brycinus) of the Alestidae from the Kariba Lake and Zambezi River in Zimbabwe revealed the presence of 6 species of Annulotrema and 1 species of Afrocleidodiscus. Three species of them are probably new for science. Morphological analysis of sclerotized structures of the “Kenya” and “Zimbabwe” species of Annulotrema collected by us suggests that there are at least 3 groups within the dactylogyrids parasitizing these fishes, with regard to the basic structure of the male copulatory organ (MCO). The first group includes 5 species with MCOs composed of an arcuate copulatory tube articulated to an accessory piece with lightly sclerotized proximal part; the second group (including 2 species) is characterized by MCO with sock-like base and non-articulated accessory piece with richly intertwined distal part; the third group consists of 3 species with an oval base of the copulatory tube and articulated accessory piece with sickle shaped distal part. |
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