Neodiplectanum Mizelle & Blatz, 1941

Domingues, Marcus V., Diamanka, Arfang & Pariselle, Antoine, 2011, Monogenoids (Diplectanidae, Polyonchoinea) from the gills of mojarras (Perciformes, Gerreidae) with the resurrection of Neodiplectanum Mizelle & Blatz, 1941 and the proposal of Darwinoplectanum n. gen., Zootaxa 3010, pp. 1-19 : 3

Neodiplectanum Mizelle & Blatz, 1941

Type species. Neodiplectanum wenningeri Mizelle & Blatz, 1941 from Eucinostomus gula (Quoy & Gaimard) [Type host] and Gerres cireneus (Walbaum) .

Other species. Neodiplectanum magnodiscatum ( Fuentes Zambrano, 1997) n. comb. from Eugerres plumieri (Cuvier) ; Neodiplectanum gatunense ( Mendoza Franco, Roche & Torchin, 2008) n. comb. from E. brasilianus (Cuvier) ; N. mexicanum ( Mendoza Franco, Roche & Torchin, 2008) n. comb. from Diapterus rhombeus (Cuvier) ; Neodiplectanum sp. from E. mexicanum (Steindachner) .

Amended diagnosis. Body fusiform, comprising cephalic region, trunk, peduncle, haptor. Tegument smooth or scaled. Cephalic lobes poorly developed; head organs present; cephalic glands unicellular, lateral or posterolateral to pharynx. Eyes present (2 pairs). Mouth subterminal, midventral. Pharynx muscular, glandular. Intestinal caeca 2, non-confluent posteriorly, lacking diverticula. Genital pore opening midventral, posterior to copulatory complex. Genital atrium muscular. One testis, postgermarian. Copulatory complex comprising male copulatory organ, accessory piece; male copulatory organ sclerotised, tubular, nested tubes present; accessory piece sclerotised, non-articulated with male copulatory organ. Vas deferens, seminal vesicle not observed. Prostatic reservoir simple or separated into three zones. Germarium saccate, looping right intestinal caecum, dorsoventrally. Vagina sinistral, vaginal atrium heavily sclerotised. Seminal receptacle saccate. Egg not observed. Accessory adhesive organ, squamodiscs, present (two), ventral, dorsal; anterior and medial rows with rodlet dumbbell-shaped, posterior rows with spinelike rodlets; anterior rows of rodlets with open rings. Haptor with 3 (1 midventral, 2 laterodorsal) haptoral bars; 14 hooks, similar (8 marginal, 2 central, 4 dorsal); 2 pairs of anchors (1 ventral, 1dorsal). Ventral bar with longitudinal groove. Superficial root of ventral anchor well define; deep root, twice as long than superficial root. Dorsal anchor with conspicuous superficial and deep roots. Parasites of Gerreidae (Perciformes) .

Remarks. Features distinguishing Neodiplectanum from the other species of Diplectaninae includes presence of male copulatory organ and accessory piece non-articulated, heavily sclerotised vaginal atrium, squamodiscs with spinelike rodlets, and dorsal anchors with conspicuous superficial and deep roots. One other diplectanine genus, Paradiplectanum Domingues & Boeger, 2008 , is characterized by sharing the first three characters with member of Neodiplectanum . However, in species of Paradiplectanum , the superficial and deep roots of dorsal anchors are inconspicuous ( Domingues & Boeger 2008).