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Journal of Parasitic Diseases: June 2006, Vol. 30, No. 1, 58–63J P DTwo new species of Trypanosoma from freshwater fish(Heteropneustes fossilis and Channa punctatus) fromBareilly, India1D. K. Gupta, N. Gupta and R. GangwarDepartment of Zoology, Bareilly College, Bareilly.1Department of Animal Science, M. J. P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly.ABSTRACT. Haematological examination of fresh water fish Channa punctatus (115 specimens)and Heteropneustes fossilis (163 specimens) revealed 10.6% and 14.6% infection, respectively, ofdimorphic species of Trypansoma. Both in the former and latter hosts, the parasite concentrationindex was 112.4 and 110.5 Trypanosomes/100 RBCs, respectively. The flagellate from C. punctatus ischaracterized by its dimorphic nature [small (18-33 µm) and large (30-52 µm) forms], and wasfound to be distinct from the earlier reported species in total body length, flagellar length,kinetoplast dimensions and granulation pattern. The trypanosome species from H. fossilis was alsoobserved to be dimorphic [small (23.5-30.5 µm) and large (33.1-43.8 µm) forms], and differencesexisted in cell breadth, nuclear size, flagellar length and cytomorphological features from theearlier recorded species. These two dimorphic species have been described herein as Trypanosomasaulii n. sp and Trypanosoma heteropneusti n. sp from C. punctatus and H. fossilis, respectively.Keywords: Channa, dimorphic, division, Heteropneustes, TrypanosomaINTRODUCTIONThe freshwater fish, Channa punctatus andHeteropneustes fossilis have served as favourablehosts of Trypanosoma: T. ophiocephali Pearse, 1933;T. striati Qadri, 1955; T. punctati Hasan and Qasim,1962; T. elongatus Raychaudhuri and Misra, 1973; T.bareilliana Gupta et al., 1987 and T. rohilkhandaeGupta and Saraswat, 1991 have been reported fromvarious species of Channa. The dimorphic speciesrecorded are T. gachuii Misra et al., 1973 from C.gachua and T. aligaricus Gupta and Jairajpuri, 1982afrom C. punctatus. On the other hand, T. saccobranchiCastellani and Willey, 1905; T. danilewskyi Qadri,1962; T. singhii Gupta and Jairajpuri, 1981; T.Corresponding author: Prof. Neelima Gupta, Department ofAnimal Science, M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly 243006, U.P., India. E-mail: guptagrawal@rediffmail.comkargenensis Gupta and Gupta, 1994 and T. karelensisGupta et al., 2001 have been recorded from H. fossilis;however, T. mukundi Raychaudhuri and Misra, 1973 isthe only dimorphic species. Herein, two new speciesof Trypanosoma have been recorded from C.punctatus and H. fossilis.MATERIALS AND METHODSLive specimens of C. punctatus and H. fossilis,collected from fresh waters of Bareilly weretransported to the laboratory and maintained inseparate aquaria under optimum conditions of foodand aeration. Blood was collected from their caudalvein and examined immediately (hanging droppreparation and micro-haematocrit) for the presenceof parasites. When positive, smears were made, airdried, fixed in methanol and stained in Leishman +phosphate buffer (pH 6.6) in the ratio of 1:7 for 40 min.