Ligophorus bazairii, Hafidi & Diamanka & Rkhami & Pariselle, 2013

Hafidi, Fouzia El, Diamanka, Arfang, Rkhami, Ouafae Berrada & Pariselle, Antoine, 2013, New species of Ligophorus (Monogenea, Ancyrocephalidae), parasite of Liza spp. (Teleostei, Mugilidae) off the Northwestern African coast, Zoosystema 35 (2), pp. 215-225 : 221-222

Ligophorus bazairii n. sp.

(Fig. 4)

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype MNHN HEL309; paratypes MNHN (1) HEL310, BMNH (2) 2012.12.17.3 (it should be noticed that on this BMNH slide there are also six specimens of Lig. hamzati n. sp. and two Lig. benhoussai n. sp. which are registered under the nos BMNH 2012.12.17.5 and BMNH 2012.12.17.6, respectively).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Eight specimens mounted in ammonium picrate-glycerol.

TYPE HOST. — Liza grandisquamis (Mugilidae) .

SITE OF INFECTION. — Gills,between secondary gill lamellae.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Grand Lahou Lagoon, Ivory Coast (5°08’11”N, 5°01’33”E).

ETYMOLOGY. — The name bazairii is given for our colleague H. Bazairi, Associate professor at the faculty of science Mohamed V - Agdal, Rabat ( Morocco) who participated to the fish collection.

DESCRIPTION Flattened adult, 436 (365-511) [8] long, 91 (75-106) [8] wide at gonad level, pharynx 27 (21-37) [8] in diameter. Haptor well demarcated with 14 marginal hooks: 14 ± 2 (9-19) [96] long. Dorsal anchor, with guard three time longer than shaft: a = 36 (35-40) [16]; b = 28 (26-34) [16]; c = 4 (4-5) [16]; d = 12 (10-14) [16]; e = 6 (4-7) [16]. Dorsal bar V-shaped: 17 (15-20) [8] long, 3 (2-4) [8] wide and 9 (7-13) [8] high. Ventral anchor with guard two time longer than shaft and long blade: a = 40 (34-44) [16]; b = 34 (27-37) [16]; c = 6 (4-8) [14]; d = 11 (8-12) [14]; e = 7 (4-8) [14]. Ventral bar: 34 (29-37) [8] long and 8 (7-12) [8] wide, slightly straight with small antero-median protuberance and two lateral

FIG. 4. – Ligophorus bazairii n. sp.: morphological structures as in Fig. 1. Abbreviations: see Materials & Methods. Scale bar: 30 µm.

and symmetrical expansions: 10 (6-14) [8] apart. MCO as a long and thin copulatory tube, 124 (109-137) [8] long, passing through a tubular accessory piece, 45 (37-50) [8] long, bifurcated at the distal extremity giving a bottle-opener shape to this piece. Vagina: 46 (42-53) [8] long.

REMARKS

This species is distinguished from all the other members of the genus by the shape of the accessory piece (bottle-opener shaped). Only Ligophorus szidati Euzet et Suriano, 1977 , from Liza ramada resembles Ligophorus bazairii n. sp., but these two species differ in the shape of the ventral transverse bar and of the expansions, which are adjoining in Lig. szidati and 10 µm apart in Lig. bazairii n. sp.