Metazoan parasite fauna of Pimelodus maculatus La Cépède, 1803 (Siluriformes, Pimelodidae) from the Guandu river, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Abstract

Sixty specimens of Pimelodus maculatus from the Guandu River in Rio de Janeiro State were examined to describe their parasitofauna, in the period from August 1999 to February 2001. Specimens of twelve metazoan parasite species were collected, allocated into seven taxonomic groups - Monogenoidea: Demidospermus uncusvalidus Gutiérez and Suriano, 1992, D. paravalenciennesi Gutiérez and Suriano, 1992, D. majusculus Kritsky and Gutiérez, 1998 and Scleroductus sp.; Digenea: Austrodiplostomum compactum (Lutz, 1928); Eucestoda: Nomimoscolex sp.; Nematoda: Cucullanus pinnai Travassos, Artigas and Pereira, 1928 and Procamallanus sp. (young specimen); Hirudinea: Helobdella sp.; Myxozoa: Henneguya sp. and Myxobolus absonus Cellere, Cordeiro and Adriano, 2002, along with one unidentified species of Acanthocephala (cystacanth). There was a correlation between the host sex and the prevalence and abundance of D. paravalenciennesi. The most dominant species in the parasite community of P. maculatus from the Guandu River was D. uncusvalidus (50%), followed by C. pinnai (18,3%). This study is the first report of D. majusculus and Henneguya sp. in P. maculatus, while it expands the known geographic distribution of D. uncusvalidus, D. paravalenciennesi, D. majusculus, Scleroductus sp., Nomimoscolex sp., C. pinnai, Procamallanus sp., Helobdella sp., Henneguya sp. and M. absonus