First Study on Gyrodactylus (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) in Morocco, with Description of a New Species from Cyprinids (Actinopterygii: Cyprinidae)

Abstract

Simple Summary: Monogenean flatworms are mainly parasitic in lower aquatic vertebrates including fish, anurans and chelonians. Gyrodactylus is one of the 23 genera of Gyrodactylidae,. With only 41 species described, the total number of Gyrodactylus species described from African freshwater fish still remains low. The known species represent only a fraction of the expected species richness of Gyrodactylus in Africa. In this study, we examined the gills of 738 cyprinid specimens. We isolated 26 Gyrodactylus individuals from these hosts. Twelve of these were morphologically characterized and proposed to belong to one single newly described species. In view of the importance of the cyprinid-monogenean system in studying the aquatic biodiversity and biogeography of North Af-rica, the present study is a substantial contribution to the parasite species inventory of these fishes. Abstract: To date, 41 species of Gyrodactylus have been described from Africa. However, none of these have been reported in Morocco. After identifying and examining 738 cyprinid host specimens, 26 specimens belonging to Gyrodactylus were found to parasitize the gills of nine species of Lucio-barbus, Carasobarbus, and Pterocapoeta. The current study describes in detail 12 specimens of Gyro-dactylus isolated from the gills of Luciobarbus pallaryi (Pellegrin, 1919) and Luciobarbus ksibi (Bou-lenger, 1905). Based on morphoanatomical observations, the characterization of the specimens collected suggests a species of Gyrodactylus new to science, described here as Gyrodactylus nyingiae n. sp. The new species is different from previously described gyrodactylids infecting African cyprinid hosts because it has a longer hamulus total length, a longer hamulus root, a downward projecting toe, a trapezium shaped ventral bar membrane with slightly striated median portion and small rounded anterolateral processes. This study brings the total number of Gyrodactylus spp. found in African cyprinids to four.