MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC - COMPARISON OF 2 PROTEOCEPHALUS SPECIES (CESTODA, PROTEOCEPHALIDAE)

Two Proteocephalus species, P. neglectus La Rue, 1911 and P. exiguus L a Rue, 1911, parasites of salmonid and coregonid fishes, were compared morphologically, biometrically, and electrophoretically. The study re vealed that the two taxa cannot be differentiated by the morphological criteria used. No fixed allelic difference was found. In all, 12 of 1 3 enzymes detected by isoelectric focusing exhibited virtually identic al isoenzyme profiles in both species. Only in the glutamate oxaloacat ate transaminase enzyme locus was a difference observed. The negligibl e differences in zymograms and morphology, including similar biometric variability of the taxa studied, suggest that the species could be co nspecific.