Research Group Zoology: Biodiversity and Toxicology, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
Section de Parasitologie, Département de Biologie, Centre de Recherche en Hydrobiologie, Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Parasit Vectors. 2020 Apr 9;13(1):187. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-3927-4.
Monogenea van Beneden, 1858 is a group of parasitic flatworms, commonly found infecting bony fish. Several genera, such as Cichlidogyrus Paperna, 1960, are reported to include potential pathogenic species that can negatively impact aquaculture fish stocks. They can switch from introduced to native fish and vice versa. In Africa (and all over the world), fish species belonging to Cichlidae are often kept in aquaculture and represent a major source of food. Thus, research on the biodiversity and occurrence of monogenean species on these fish is of importance for aquaculture and conservation. The present study is a survey of the diversity of species of Cichlidogyrus in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on three cichlid species: Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami', Serranochromis cf. macrocephalus, and Tilapia sparrmanii Smith, 1840.
Specimens of Cichlidogyrus were isolated from the gills and mounted on glass slides with Hoyer's medium. The genital and haptoral hard parts were measured and drawn using interference contrast.
In total, six species of Cichlidogyrus were found, all new to science: C. bulbophallus n. sp. and C. pseudozambezensis n. sp. on S. cf. macrocephalus, C. flagellum n. sp. and C. lobus n. sp. on T. sparrmanii, C. ranula n. sp. on S. cf. macrocephalus and Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami', and C. maeander n. sp. found on Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami' and T. sparrmanii. The first four species are considered to be strict specialists, C. ranula n. sp. an intermediate generalist and C. maeander n. sp. a generalist. These parasite species show morphological similarities to species found in the Lower Guinea and Zambezi ichthyofaunal provinces, which might be explained by past river capture events between river systems of the Congo Province and both these regions.
Serranochromis cf. macrocephalus and Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami' can harbour respectively three and two species of Cichlidogyrus, all described in this study. Tilapia sparrmanii can harbour seven species, of which three are described in the present study. These results highlight the species diversity of this parasite genus in the Congo Basin.
Monogenea 是一类寄生扁形动物，通常感染硬骨鱼类。有几个属，如 Cichlidogyrus Paperna，1960 年，被报道包含潜在的致病性物种，这些物种可能对水产养殖鱼类种群产生负面影响。它们可以从引入的鱼类转移到本地鱼类，反之亦然。在非洲（以及世界各地），属于慈鲷科的鱼类经常在水产养殖中饲养，是主要的食物来源。因此，研究这些鱼类的单殖吸虫物种的生物多样性和发生情况对水产养殖和保护具有重要意义。本研究是对刚果民主共和国（DRC）南部三种慈鲷物种（Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami'、Serranochromis cf. macrocephalus 和 Tilapia sparrmanii Smith，1840）的 Cichlidogyrus 物种多样性的调查。
从鳃中分离出 Cichlidogyrus 标本，并用 Hoyer 介质将其安装在载玻片上。使用干涉对比测量和绘制生殖器和固着器的硬体部分。
总共发现了六种 Cichlidogyrus 新种，均为科学新种：S. cf. macrocephalus 上的 C. bulbophallus n. sp. 和 C. pseudozambezensis n. sp.、T. sparrmanii 上的 C. flagellum n. sp. 和 C. lobus n. sp.、S. cf. macrocephalus 和 Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami' 上的 C. ranula n. sp. 以及 Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami' 和 T. sparrmanii 上的 C. maeander n. sp. 。前四种被认为是严格的专性寄生虫，C. ranula n. sp. 是中间的一般性寄生虫，C. maeander n. sp. 是一般性寄生虫。这些寄生虫物种与在Lower Guinea 和 Zambezi 鱼类区发现的物种在形态上相似，这可能是由于刚果省和这两个地区的河流系统之间过去的河流捕获事件造成的。
Serranochromis cf. macrocephalus 和 Orthochromis sp. 'Lomami' 分别可以携带三种和两种 Cichlidogyrus 物种，所有这些物种均在本研究中描述。Tilapia sparrmanii 可以携带七种物种，其中三种在本研究中描述。这些结果突出了刚果盆地该寄生虫属的物种多样性。
