Allopodocotyle pedicellata ( Stossich, 1887 ) Pritchard, 1966

Allopodocotyle pedicellata ( Stossich, 1887) Pritchard, 1966 View in CoL

Host. Sparus aurata (Linnaeus, 1758)

L o c a l i t y. Algerian coast in Oran.

S i t e o n h o s t. Intestine.

R e c o r d s i n t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n. Ex S. aurata , off the Adriatic Sea, Trieste; ( Stossich, 1887, 1898; Barbagallo & Drago, 1903); Janiszewska, 1953; Maillart, 1976; Papoutsoglou, 1976; Saad Fares, 1985; Bartoli et al., 1989) off Corsica (Bartoli et al., 1989), off silica ( Barbagallo & Drago, 1903) and off Tunisia ( Derbel et al., 2012; Antar & Gargouri, 2018); ex Diplodus puntazzo (Walbaum, 1792) , off Saronic Gulf ( Papoutsoglou, 1976); ex Pagrus caeruleostictus Valenciennes, 1830 ; ex Oblada melanura Linnaeus, 1758 , off Lebanon ( Saad Fares, 1985); ex Pagrus pagrus Linnaeus, 1758 , off the Aegean Sea (Akmirza, 2000). This is the first record on Algeria’s coast ( fig. 2 View Fig ).

D e s c r i p t i o n

[Based on 20 whole-mounted gravid specimens; fig. 3 View Fig ; measurements in table 2]

Body elongate-oval, rounded at both ends. Forebody and hindbody occupying 18–27 (24.8) % and 48–76 (60) % of body length, respectively ( fig. 3 View Fig , A). Tegument thick, lacking spines. Oral sucker ventro-subterminal, oval with a sub ventral opening. Ventral sucker in the anterior third of body, rounded, always protuberant, as a result, all specimens are mounted laterally. The latter is bigger than the oral sucker. Oral sucker to ventral length ratio 1: 1.4–1.6 (1.5), widthratio 1: 1.15–1.4 (1.2). Pre-pharynx distinct, long, thick-walled. Pharynx large, muscular, subcylindrical. Oesophagus long, bifurcating at the level of the ventral sucker; caeca wide, terminate blindly in posterior body third. Testes 2, elongate oval, entire, tandem, contiguous, post-ovarian, in mid-hindbody. Cirrus- sac present, curved, dorsal to ventral sucker, containing tubular convoluted internal seminal vesicle, pars prostatica with numerous large prostatic cells, muscular ejaculatory duct, and cirrus with granular surface. Genital pore anterior the ventral sucker ( fig. 3 View Fig , B). Ovary rounded, entire, often contiguous with anterior testis, in mid hindbody, pre-testicular; oviduct short, with thickened wall. Seminal receptacle large, sometimes larger than ovary. Uterus exclusively pre-testicular, filled with eggs, coiled between ventral sucker and ovary, ending with metraterm ( fig. 3 View Fig , C). Vitellarium follicular, vitelline follicles numerous, extending from mid-length between ventral sucker and ovary to posterior extremity; vitelline fields, confluent both dorsally and ventrally in the post-testicular region. Eggssmall, oval.