Protoancylodiscoides edeaensis Bassock Bayiha, Bahanak & Bilong Bilong, 2024

Protoancylodiscoides edeaensis Bassock Bayiha, Bahanak & Bilong Bilong View in CoL , sp. nov.

Fig. 3 View Figure 3

https://zoobank.org/ 7B156B2E-3540-44D0-8368-815C3781A2E4

Type host and locality. Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus ( Siluriformes : Claroteidae ), the Sanaga River in Edea ( Cameroon), 3°47’43.25”N and 10°08’12.18”E.

Other locality. The Dibamba River in Douala, 3°55’31”N, 9°40’21”E GoogleMaps .

Infection site. Gill lamellae.

Type material. Holotype RMCA _VERMES_43392 ; Paratypes RMCA _VERMES_43393-43399 .

Description based on 23 parasite specimens. Dorsal anchor with long and thick inner root (= guard, superficial root, ventral root), distal end slightly curved outwardly; out- er root (= shaft, deep root, dorsal root) very short and less thick than inner root; blade with arched base ends distally in point; thick filament covers blade and apart of point. Dorsal bar slightly curved anteriorly with more or less rounded extremities pierced, each with a small circular hole. Ventral anchor, small with outer root narrower and shorter than inner root; presence of eccentric small lenticular fenestration at base of the inner root; hull and thick, slightly sclerotised filament covers blade ending in little fine and short point. Ventral bar, V-shaped, made up of two straight symmetrical arms separated medially. Presence of seven pairs of hooks in three types according to their shape, size and position. Latero-ventral hooks II, V, VI, VII of similar shape and size [i.e. thin, without shank (= distal subunit)], resemble those present in ancyrocephaline oncomiracidia (larval hook). They correspond to proximal subunit (= outer root +thumb+point) in Kritsky and Kulo (1999); medio-ventral hook pairs I and IV enlarged with thick and long shank; latero-dorsal hooks III with moderately developed shank; presence of dorsal structure in shape of flared amphora (onchuim). Male copulatory organ (MCO) consists of long tubular penis (average 249 µm) associated with complex accessory piece composed of single unit, round ends, presenting ridges and a crumpled protuberance, with grooves at distal portion of MCO. Vagina, slightly coiled (2 turns) at its base, ends in sclerotised structure.

The measurements of the parasite in toto, the haptoral and the copulatory sclerotised parts are shown in Table 1.

Etymology. edeaensis refers to locality where the type host was collected.

Remarks. Protoancylodiscoides edeaensis sp. nov. is close to P. mansourensis El-Naggar, 1987 and P. chrysichthes Paperna, 1969 by the morphology of haptor sclerotised parts. It is distinguished from P. mansourensis and P. chrysichthes by: (1) size of some sclerotised parts, mainly: (i) dorsal anchor a = 93 (87–97) in P. edeaensis sp. nov. vs a = 88 (81–93) in P. mansourensis and a = 64 (55–69) in P. chrysichthes ; b = 67 (64–70) in P. edeaensis sp. nov. vs b = 50 (44–56) in P. chrysichthes (ii) ventral anchor a = 48 (46–51) in P. edeaensis sp. nov. vs a = 33 (29–38) in P. chrysichthes ;(2) penis length 249 (222–278) in P. edeaensis sp. nov. vs 325 (302–347) in P. mansourensis ; (3) morphology of vagina: less coiled (2 turns) with a ridge-like structure vs 4–5 turns at the base, and flared in the distal part for P. mansourensis , while it curls up and turns around at the distal part for P. chrysichthes .