A parasite-host checklist for Monogenea from freshwater fishes in Australia, with comments on biodiversity

During a study of the Monogenea from some Australian native freshwater fish es found in south-east Queensland, a review of the literature was made to e numerate Australia's freshwater monogenean fauna. Twenty-six named species of Monogenea have been described from 16 species of native freshwater fishe s. A further 16 records of monogeneans have been reported from native and i ntroduced freshwater fishes, but these parasites await specific description . The only published record of a monogenean from an introduced species of f reshwater fish in Australia is Gyrodactylus kobayashii Hukuda, 1940 from th e goldfish Carassius auratus. An attempt is made to predict the biodiversit y of the monogenean fauna of Australia's 180 species of freshwater fishes b y applying a conservative estimate of three species of Monogenea per specie s of freshwater fish from a survey of relatively common freshwater fish spe cies in subtropical south-east Queensland. This indicates that only 5% of a n estimated 500 species of Monogenea have been described so far. An histori cal review of the study of the Monogenea from freshwater fishes in Australi a and an updated parasite-host checklist is presented.