''Lethacotyle'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

polyopisthocotylea Polyopisthocotylea is a subclass of parasitic flatworms in the class Monogenea.WoRMS (2023). Polyopisthocotylea. Accessed at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=119220 on 2023-12-21Yamaguti, S. (1963). Systema Helminthum Volu ...

monogenea Monogeneans, members of the class Monogenea, 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 ...

ns, included in the family Protomicrocotylidae.
The genus includes only two species: '' Lethacotyle fijiensis'' Manter & Price, 1953 Manter, H. W. & Price, D. F. 1953: Some Monogenetic Trematodes of marine fishes from Fiji. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington, 20, 105-112. , the type-species of the genus, and '' Lethacotyle vera'' Justine, Rahmouni, Gey, Schoelinck, & Hoberg, 2013 . Both species are parasitic on the gills of jacks in the Pacific Ocean.Ramalingam, K. 1966: A rare record of ''Lethacotyle'' (Monogenea), its post-oncomiracidial larva with observation on distribution. ''Current Science'', 35, 101-10
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Ramalingam, K. 1968: A redescription of ''Lethacotyle'' (Monogenea) and its post-oncomiracidial larva. Journal of the Madras University B, 35-36, 107-114. They are known only from three localities: off

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

, and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

.
The genus ''Lethacotyle'' is special in that its members have no

clamps Clamp may refer to: Tools and devices *Brick clamp, an early method of baking bricks *Clamp (tool), a device or tool used to hold objects in a fixed relative position (many types listed) **C-clamp **C-clamp (stagecraft) **Riser clamp, a device u ...

on their posterior attachment organ or

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 diffe ...

, in contrast to most

Monogenea Monogeneans, members of the class Monogenea, 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 ...

n which have clamps.Hayward, C. (2005). Monogenea Polyopisthocotylea (ectoparasitic flukes). In K. Rohde (Ed.), Marine Parasitology (pp. 55-63): CSIRO, Collingwood, Australia & CABI, Oxon, UK. This is reflected in the

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the name, which, according to Manter & Price is "from ''letha'' = forgetting, and ''cotyle'' = cup, and refers to the absence of clamps".

References

External links

Parasite of the day Blog: "''Lethacotyle vera''"

PLoSONE Blog: "Fish beware: a new species of parasite is discovered"
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15256617 Protomicrocotylidae Monogenea genera