Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov., a New Species of Polypocephalidae Meggitt, 1924 (Lecanicephalidea) from the Persian Gulf.

INTRODUCTION

Although many batoid species, known as final hosts of lecanicephalidean cestodes, exist in the Persian Gulf, no knowledge regarding this cestode order is available for this region. This study is the first one focusing on this order in the Persian Gulf.

METHODS

A total of 11 cowtail stingrays, Pastinachus sephen (Forsskål), were collected from the north eastern Persian Gulf. Isolated cestodes were fixed in 10% seawater-buffered formalin and stored in 70% ethanol. For morphological examinations, worms were stained using acetic carmine; a subset was prepared for SEM.

RESULTS

A new species of Polypocephalus Braun, 1878 was described. Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov. is the only species within its genus reported outside the waters of Japan, India, Sri Lanka, and Egypt in the Indian Ocean. Since the microtriches were not described in the generic diagnosis of Polypocephalus, the description of the microtriches is added based on the standardised terminology. Furthermore, the characteristics of this new species were discussed and compared within Polypocephalus, many species of which have poor descriptions.

CONCLUSIONS

Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov. is the first report of the genus Polypocephalus in the Persian Gulf and the 15th valid species of its genus.