During a dietary study of the naked goby, Gobiosoma bosc, collected from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, in 2011–2012, gut content analyses showed the presence of several digenean species. The identity of one of the digenean species was investigated using molecular and morphological techniques. A comparison of 374 base pairs of an internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA (ITS2) with the GenBank database revealed that the digenean was a Homalometron sp., most likely Homalometron palmeri or an undescribed sister taxon. Specimens examined for morphology were immature, less than 1 mm in length, and had an oral to ventral sucker width ratio of 1:1.15–1.29. This is the first record of Homalometron sp. parasitizing a Gobiosoma bosc host, and it represents the first potential occurrence of H. palmeri outside of the Gulf of Mexico.
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1 July 2015
New Host Record (Gobiosoma bosc, Teleostei), for Homalometron sp. (Digenea: Apocreadiidae) in the Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, U.S.A.
Michelle C. D'Aguillo,
Erik E. Sotka,
Isaure de Buron
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Comparative Parasitology
Vol. 82 • No. 2
July 2015
Vol. 82 • No. 2
July 2015