A new species of Neoergasilus Yin 1956 (Copepoda: Cyclopoida: Ergasilidae) parasitic on the catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) (Siluriformes: Clariidae) from South Africa.

ABSTRACT: Twenty-one specimens of an ergasilid were collected from the gills of the sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell), from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The first leg and antennae morphology conformed to the genus Neoergasilus Yin, 1956. While the invasive Neoergasilus japonicus (Harada, 1930) is the only Neoergasilus species that has been reported from Africa, the combination of several characteristics, separates the Eastern Cape specimens from N. japonicus and the other eight Neoergasilus congeners. These include an inflated cephalothorax; the presence of an oval dorsal ornamentation anterior to the cephalosome; a spine on the posterodistal margin of the first antennal segment; a cone-like process at the proximal margin of the second antennal segment; a knob-like process on the

SUBMITTER: Fikiye PP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11422265 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature