ON A NEW SPECIES OF PSEUDOCAPILLARIA (NEMATODA, TRICHUROIDEA), P-LEPIDOCEPHALI, FROM THE ESTUARINE FISH LEPIDOCEPHALUS (LEPIDOCEPHALICHTHYS) GUNTEA (HAMILTON)

Pseudocapillaria lepidocephali n. sp., parasitic in the intestine of t he leach Lepidocephalus (Lepidocephalichthys) guntea from the Hooghly estuary at Kalyani, West Bengal, India, is described. The parasite is characterised mainly by its small body size, the structure of the male caudal end (the presence of medium-sized ventro-lateral lobes and the absence of a dorsal membrane), the presence of a non-spinous spicular sheath, the structure of the stichosome (26-34 stichocytes present), and the size and structure of the eggs. This is the first species of t he genus Pseudocapillaria described from India and also from the genus Lepidocephalus