A revision of the Merizocotylinae Johnston and Tiegs, 1922 (Monogenea : Monocotylidae) with descriptions of new species of Empruthotrema Johnston andTiegs, 1922 and Merizocotyle Cerfontaine, 1894
La. Chisholm et Id. Whittington, A revision of the Merizocotylinae Johnston and Tiegs, 1922 (Monogenea : Monocotylidae) with descriptions of new species of Empruthotrema Johnston andTiegs, 1922 and Merizocotyle Cerfontaine, 1894, J NAT HIST, 33(1), 1999, pp. 1-28
Empruthotrema tasmaniensis sp. nov. is described from the nasal fossae of t
he southern eagle ray, Myliobatis australis Macleay (Myliobatidae), from th
e east coast of Tasmania. Empruthotrema tasmaniensis is distinguished from
others in the genus by the presence of an accessory piece associated with t
he male copulatory organ; no other species of Empruthotrema Johnston and Ti
egs, 1922 has an accessory piece. Merizocotyle urolophi sp. nov, is describ
ed from the nasal fossae of the sparsely spotted stingaree, Urolophus pauci
maculatus Dixon (Urolophidae), and is distinguished from other members of t
he genus by 12 marginal loculi on the haptor; this is the only species of M
erizocotyle Cerfontaine, 1894 that has this configuration. Squalotrema llew
ellyni Kearn and Green, 1983, described previously from Squalus acanthias L
innaeus (Squalidae) from the English Channel, is recorded from the same hos
t species caught off the east coast of Tasmania. We found Triloculotrema ja
ponica Kearn, 1993, which was described originally in the nasal fossae of t
he Japanese topeshark, Hemitriakis japanica (Muller and Henle) (Triakidae),
off Minabe, Japan, in the nasal fossae of Mustelus antarcticus (Gunther) (
Triakidae) caught off the east coast of Tasmania. Merizocotyle australensis
(Beverley-Burton and Williams, 1989) Chisholm, Wheeler and Beverley-Burton
, 1995, found in the nasal fossae of Himantura uarnak collected from Darwin
, represents a new host and locality record. Empruthotrema and Merizocotyle
are revised fully and additional information is provided for Squalotrema K
earn and Green, 1983 and Triloculotrema Kearn, 1993. A key is given to the
merizocotylinae Johnston and Tiegs, 1922 and illustrations are provided of
all important taxonomic characters. We postulate how the different types of
haptors found in Empruthotrema and Merizocotyle may have been derived and
discuss the taxonomy of Merizocotyle which is still in a poor state.