Two new species of dactylogyrids (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae) infecting the gill filaments of fishes in the southern Peruvian Amazon.

ABSTRACT

Two new dactylogyrid species were found infecting the gill filaments of two freshwater fishes collected in the Amazon River basin around Madre de Dios, Peru, namely, Demidospermus wilveri n. sp. from Loricaria sp. (Siluriformes Loricariidae), and Notozothecium agusti n. sp. from Brycon amazonicus (Spix & Agassiz) (Characiformes Bryconidae). Demidospermus wilveri n. sp. is characterized by having the following combination of characteristics (1) a male copulatory organ (MCO) with 1½ rings and a spoon-shaped distal end, (2) an accessory piece with expanded distal end, (3) dorsal and ventral bars with broadly V-shaped and expanded ends, and (4) hooks similar in size. Notozothecium agusti n. sp. differs from its ten congeners by the following combination of characteristics (1) a coiled MCO with 1½ rings and a sinuous accessory piece with kidney-shaped distal end, (2) an rod-shaped and straight dorsal bar, (3) and anchors with robust superficial roots. Demidospermus wilveri n. sp. represents the thirty-second species in the genus, the eighth from Peru and the fifth parasitising a loricariid catfish from the Peruvian Amazon. Notozothecium agusti n. sp. is the second species of the genus described in Peru and the first species infecting a bryconid host.