Comparative Parasitology 68(2) 2001 - Peru State College

240 COMPARATIVE PARASITOLOGY, 68(2), JULY 2001
8
12
Figures 8-13. Drawings of spores in frontal view of species of Myxobolus known to parasitize Lepomis
gibbosus in North America. 8. Myxobolus gibbosus. 9. Myxobolus paralintoni. 10. Myxobolus dechtiari. 11.
Myxobolus uvuliferus. 12. Myxobolus osburni. 13. Myxobolus magnaspherus. Scale bar = 5 (Jim and applies
to all figures.
The type material of M. lepomicus Li and
Desser, 1985, described from a variety of organs
of L. gibbosus, has deteriorated, and spores are
not to be found on the slide. The species description
includes a schematic drawing of the
spore. Until additional samples are obtained the
species is considered a species inquirendae.
Myxobolus gibbosus Li and Desser, 1985, is a
homonym of M. gibbosus Herrick, 1941. Desser
(1993) proposed Myxobolus Hi as a nomen novum
to replace M. gibbosus Li and Desser, 1985.
However, Landsberg and Lom (1991) considered
M. gibbosus Li and Desser, 1985, to be a
junior synonym of M. uvuliferus, and thus both
M. gibbosus and M. Hi become junior synonyms
of M. uvuliferus. The report by Hoffman (1998)
that M. gibbosus Li and Desser, 1985, is a junior
synonym of M. osburni cannot be supported on
the basis of spore shape.
The 6 confirmed species of Myxobolus mentioned
above are known to parasitize L. gibbosus
or related centrarchid fishes in North America.
Myxobolus magnaspherus and M. paralintoni
have been found in redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus
(Giinther, 1859)) in Mississippi,
U.S.A. (D. K. Cone, Saint Mary's University,
Copyright © 2011, The Helminthological Society of Washington
and R. M. Overstreet, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory,
unpublished data) and redbreast sunfish
(Lepomis auritus (Linnaeus, 1758)) in Maryland,
U.S.A. (Hayden and Rogers, 1997), respectively.
Myxobolus osburni has been reported
(Herrick, 1936; Otto and Jahn, 1943) from bluegill
sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque,
1819), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu
Lacepede, 1802), and black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus
(Lesueur, 1829)). The genus clearly
has undergone a diverse radiation in these
hosts, and it is of ecological interest that all 6
species are found in L. gibbosus in Algonquin
Park and that all occupy distinct and very specific
tissue sites in this host species.
Acknowledgments
The research was funded by a Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of
Canada (NSERC) Research Grant awarded to
the author. Thanks are extended to the staff of
the Harkness Research Laboratory for their help
and hospitality and to Sherwin Desser, University
of Toronto, for providing constructive comments
on a draft of the paper.