Sa. Bullard et al., Six new host records and an updated list of wild hosts for Neobenedenia melleni (MacCallum) (Monogenea : Capsalidae), COMP PARASI, 67(2), 2000, pp. 190-196
Six new host records and an updated list of wild hosts for Neobenedenia mel
lini (MacCallum) (Monogenea: Capsalidae) are provided. We report specimens
of N. melleni from the skin of a whitefin shark-sucker (Echeneis neucratoid
es Zuieuw [Echeneidae]) caught off Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; from the skin of
a mosquitofish (Gambusia xanthosoma Greenfield [Poeciliidae]) caught in Lit
tle Salt Creek, Grand Cayman Island, British West Indies; from a freshwater
immersion bath of red grouper (Epinephelus morio (Valenciennes) [Serranida
e]) caught in the Gulf of Mexico off Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.: from the sk
in of a garden eel (Heteroconger hassi (Klausewitz and Eibl-Eibesfeldt) [Co
ngridae]) in the Toledo Zoo, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A.; from the skin of a racco
on butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula (Cuvier) [Chaetodontidae]) in the Fort W
ayne Children's Zoo, Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.; and from the gill cavity
of a red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus (Poey) [Lutjanidael]) in holding fac
ilities at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi,
U.S.A. Neobenedenia melleni had not been reported previously from a suspect
ed wild host in the Gulf of Mexico (i.e., E, mono) or from a member of Eche
neidae, Atheriniformes, or Anguilliformes. Published host records indicate
that N. melleni exhibits a relatively low degree of host specificity among
captive and wild hosts: in nature, N. melleni infests predominantly shallow
-water or reef teleosts.