Quadriacanthus allobychowskiella Paperna, 1979

Quadriacanthus allobychowskiella Paperna, 1979 View in CoL

Type-host and locality: C. gariepinus ; Uganda, Lake George ( Paperna 1979).

Other localities: Nile River basin: Ammar drainage canal, Damietta branch, Lake Manzala, Mansoura drainage canal, Nawasa El-Gheit drainage canal, Nile River barrage, Telbanah drainage canal ( Egypt), and Middle Letaba Dam ( South Africa) ( Truter 2022, Truter et al. 2023).

New host: Clarias ngamensis .

New localities: Lake Lubanda; Luapula River.

Prevalence: P = 40% (Lake Lubanda); P = 60% (Luapula River).

Mean intensity: MI = 1.5 ± 1.9 (Lake Lubanda); MI= 1.7 ± 1.1 (Luapula River).

Voucher specimens: 24 voucher specimens XXII.3.”04; 05; 07–14; 16; 17; 19–22; 24; 27; 30; 32–34; 36;44”are deposited in the collection of the Research Group Zoology: Biodiversity & Toxicology, at Hasselt University (Diepenbeek, Belgium).

Diagnosis: Tube-shaped MCO wider at its base and gradually shrinking towards distal extremity. Accessory piece possessing two lateral outgrowths arising from outer surface of middle region of sclerite and ending with well-developed hook. Vagina relatively long tube, partly sclerotized duct wide at the basal extremity.Dorsal anchor without shaft nor guard, with broad base and short point. Dorsal bar with rectangular centre, small median process posteriorly directed and two lateral expansions. Large dorsal cuneus with bifid end. Ventral anchor regularly curved without shaft nor guard. Ventral bar V-shaped with two lateral branches. Y-shaped ventral cuneus. Seven pairs of hooks: pairs IV, III, I (decreasing size), bigger than pairs II, V-VII almost equal ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ).

Remarks: This species, Q. allobychowskiella (synonyms: Quadriacanthus clariadis allobychowskiella Paperna, 1979 ; Quadriacanthus kearni El-Naggar & Serag, 1985 ) could be mixed up with Q. clariadis Paperna, 1961 by the morphology of the ventral anchors with a curved shaft and long point, the dorsal anchor with an elongated bent shaft and short point, and the Y-shaped ventral cunei. It is however easily distinguishable as Q. allobyschowskiella by possessing a large dorsal cuneus with a bifid end vs a triangular one for Q. clariadis ( Kritsky and Kulo 1988, Francová et al. 2017, Truter 2022, Truter et al. 2023).