''Cichlidogyrus philander'' is a species of Monopisthocotylean

Monogenea Monogeneans are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female reprod ...

n, in the family Ancyrocephalidae. It is ectoparasitic on the

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

of the fish '' Pseudocrenilabrus philander''. The species has been described by Laurence Douëllou in 1993 from fish collected in

Lake Kariba Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. A complete and detailed redescription of the species, using scanning electron microscopy in addition to traditional microscopy, has been done by Igeh, Dos Santos & Avenant-Oldewage in 2017. These authors used specimens collected from the same fish species, from Padda Dam,

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Genetic characters derived from the 28S rDNA, the COI mitochondrial DNA and ITS1 rDNA regions distinguish ''C. philander'' from all other ''

Cichlidogyrus ''Cichlidogyrus'' is a genus of monopisthocotylean monogeneans in the family Ancyrocephalidae. The type-species of the genus is '' Cichlidogyrus arthracanthus'' Paperna, 1960, by original designation. All the species of the genus are parasites ...

'' sequenced species.

Morphology

''Cichlidogyrus philander'' is characterised by a

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...

with a sharp, curved, lateral termination, an accessory piece with a hook-like extremity that may appear forked terminally, and lack of a visible

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hy ...

. The transverse bars of the

haptor The haptor is the attachment organ of the monogeneans, a group of parasitic Platyhelminthes. The haptor is sometimes called opisthaptor (from ''opistho-'': behind) to emphasize that it is located in the posterior part of the body, and to differ ...

have concave and convex surfaces with ribs on the concave surface. The dorsal bar of the

bears fenestrations at the base of the auricles and the ventral and dorsal gripi are dissimilar. The large first pair of uncinuli shows lateral wings on the left side of the base. On top of this wing, a ball-like structure with a small fenestration is visible.

Images of ''Cichlidogyrus philander'' in scanning electron microscopy

Parasite170078-fig3 Cichlidogyrus philander (Monogenea, Ancyrocephalidae).png, Male copulatory organ, scanning electron microscopy Parasite170078-fig4 Cichlidogyrus philander (Monogenea, Ancyrocephalidae).png, Ventral and dorsal bars of the

, scanning electron microscopy Parasite170078-fig5 Cichlidogyrus philander (Monogenea, Ancyrocephalidae).png, Gripi and uncinuli in the

, scanning electron microscopy

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q48993171

Attribution

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from https://www.parasite-journal.org/articles/parasite/abs/2017/01/parasite170078/parasite170078.html in the #Morphology section. Monopisthocotylea Fauna of South Africa Fauna of Zimbabwe Animals described in 1993