Microcotyle furcata

Microcotyle furcata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Class:	Monogenea
Order:	Mazocraeidea
Family:	Microcotylidae
Genus:	Microcotyle
Species:	M. furcata
Binomial name
	Microcotyle furcata; Linton, 1940
Synonyms
	Microcotyle hiatulae Goto, 1899 [1] ; Microcotyle (Microcotyle) furcata (Linton, 1940) Unnithan, 1971 [2] Contents Systematics ; Description ; Hosts and localities ; References ;

Last updated August 27, 2019

Microcotyle furcata is a species of monogenean that is parasitic on the gills of a marine fish. It belongs to the family Microcotylidae.^[3]

In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined.

Monogeneans 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 have both male and female reproductive structures. Monogeneans have a series of hooks which are used to attach onto fish, and as a result, could lead to infections.

Fish are gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a sister group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Tetrapods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so cladistically they are fish as well. However, traditionally fish are rendered paraphyletic by excluding the tetrapods. Because in this manner the term "fish" is defined negatively as a paraphyletic group, it is not considered a formal taxonomic grouping in systematic biology, unless it is used in the cladistic sense, including tetrapods. The traditional term pisces is considered a typological, but not a phylogenetic classification.

Systematics

Microcotyle furcata was described by Linton in 1940 from the gills of the labrid Hiatula Onitis collected near Woods Hole, off Massachusetts. ^[3]Microcotyle hiatulae was described 40 years earlier by Goto in 1899 from the gills of the labrid Hiatula Onitis collected near Newport, off Rhode Island. ^[1] Forty years later, Linton (1940) described M. furcata from the gills the same host collected near Woods Hole, off Massachusetts. ^[3] As Linton did not mention M. hiatulae description of M. furcata, Thoney & Munroe suggested that Linton was unaware of Goto's earlier description of M. hiatulae. ^[4] Thoney & Munroe examined Microcotyle specimens from T. onitis off Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Chesapeake Bay and indicated that all specimens collected from all three locations were indistinguishable from M. hiatulae. Comparison of meristic and morphometric of the holotype of M. furcata also reveals that this specimen are M. hiatulae indicating that Microcotyle furcata should be considered a junior subjective synonym of M. hiatulae'. ^[4] Thoney & Munroe provided a redescription and illustrations of Microcotyle hiatulae to complete the original description lacking data on intraspecific variation and some important taxonomic characters, and also described the postlarval development. ^[4] Thoney and Munroe's comparison of M. hiatulae with 18 other species of Microcotyle described previously from 15 host species living sympatrically with Hiatula onitis along the Atlantic coast of the United States by examination of published descriptions showed that many of the species were morphologically similar. Thoney and Munroe also noted that it was extremely difficult to identify an individual to species level in absence of host species identification.^[4]

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts' population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.

Seitarō Gotō (1867–1935) was a Japanese scientist, known for his works on the Monogenea, a class of parasitic flatworms which are ectoparasites of fishes. He also worked on other invertebrates, such as Coelenterates and Echinoderms.

Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area, the seventh least populous, and the second most densely populated. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound. It also shares a small maritime border with New York. Providence is the state capital and most populous city in Rhode Island.

Unnithan erected the subgenus Microcotyle in which he placed Microcotyle furcata as Microcotyle (Microcotyle) furcata. ^[2] However, this species was returned to the genus Microcotyle by Mamaev. ^[5]

Microcotyle is a genus which belongs to the phylum Platyhelminthes and class Monogenea. Species of Microcotyle are ectoparasites that affect their host by attaching themselves as larvae on the gills of the fish and grow into adult stage. This larval stage is called oncomiracidium, and is characterized as free swimming and ciliated.

Description

Microcotyle furcata has the general morphology of all species of Microcotyle , with a symmetrical lanceolate body, comprising an anterior part which contains most organs and a posterior part called the haptor. The haptor is symmetrical, approximately half the length of the body proper and bears 40-48 clamps, arranged as two rows, one on each side. The clamps of the haptor attach the animal to the gill of the fish. There are also two buccal suckers at the anterior extremity. The digestive organs include an anterior, terminal mouth, a pharynx nearly circular in outline, a short oesophagus and a posterior intestine with two lateral branches hidden in large part by the vitellaria and do not extend in the haptor. Each adult contains male and female reproductive organs. The reproductive organs include an anterior spacious genital atrium , armed with numerous somewhat conical spines, a medio-dorsal vagina, a single ovary and 14-24 testes that extend from the posterior edge of the ovary to a point a little in front of the posterior end of the vitellaria. ^[3]

The haptor is the attachment organ of the monogeneans, a group of parasitic Platyhelminthes. The haptor is sometimes called opisthaptor to emphasize that it is located in the posterior part of the body, and to differentiate it from the prohaptor, a structure including glands located at the anterior part of the body. According to Yamaguti (1963), the chief adhesive organ of the monogeneans, the haptor, is posterior, more or less discoid, muscular, may be divided into alveoli or loculi, is usually provided with anchors, has nearly always marginal larval hooklets, or is in a reduced form with anchors. The haptor may consist of symmetrical or asymmetrical, sessile or pedunculate, muscular suckers or clamps with or without supporting sclerites; accessory adhesive organs may be present in form of armed plaques, lappets or appendices.

Clamps are the main attachment structure of the Polyopisthocotylean monogeneans.
These ectoparasitic worms have a variable number of clamps on their haptor ; each clamp is attached to the host fish, generally to its gill. Clamps include sclerotised elements, called the sclerites, and muscles. The structure of clamps varies according to the groups within the Polyopisthocotylean monogeneans; microcotylids have relatively simple clamps, whereas gastrocotylids have more complex clamps.

A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water and excretes carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist. The microscopic structure of a gill presents a large surface area to the external environment. Branchia is the zoologists' name for gills.

Hosts and localities

The type-host is Tautoga onitis (Labridae). The type-locality is off Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. ^[3]

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.

Tautoga onitis is the type host of Microcotyle furcata

References

1 2 Goto, S. (1899). Notes on some exotic species of ectoparasitic trematodes (Vol. 12). Imperial University of Tokyo. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31156.pdf
1 2 Unnithan, R. V. (1971). On the functional morphology of a new fauna of Monogenoidea on fishes from Trivandrum and environs. Part IV. Microcotylidae sensu stricto and its repartition into subsidiary taxa. American Midland Naturalist, 366-398.
1 2 3 4 5 Linton, E. (1940). "Trematodes from fishes mainly from the Woods Hole region, Massachusetts". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 88 (3078): 1–172. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.88-3078.1. ISSN 0096-3801.
1 2 3 4 Thoney, D. A., & Munroe, T. A. (1987). Microcotyle hiatulae Goto, 1900 (Monogenea), a senior synonym of M. furcata Linton, 1940, with a redescription and comments on postlarval development. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington, 54(1), 91-95.
↑ Mamaev, Y. L. (1986). The taxonomical composition of the family Microcotylidae Taschenberg, 1879 (Monogenea). Folia Parasitologica, 33, 199-206. PDF

This Monogenea- related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Goto1899-1] 1 2 Goto, S. (1899). Notes on some exotic species of ectoparasitic trematodes (Vol. 12). Imperial University of Tokyo. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31156.pdf

[Unnithan1971-2] 1 2 Unnithan, R. V. (1971). On the functional morphology of a new fauna of Monogenoidea on fishes from Trivandrum and environs. Part IV. Microcotylidae sensu stricto and its repartition into subsidiary taxa. American Midland Naturalist, 366-398.

[Linton1940-3] 1 2 3 4 5 Linton, E. (1940). "Trematodes from fishes mainly from the Woods Hole region, Massachusetts". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 88 (3078): 1–172. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.88-3078.1. ISSN 0096-3801.

[Thoney&Munroe1987-4] 1 2 3 4 Thoney, D. A., & Munroe, T. A. (1987). Microcotyle hiatulae Goto, 1900 (Monogenea), a senior synonym of M. furcata Linton, 1940, with a redescription and comments on postlarval development. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington, 54(1), 91-95.

[Mamaev1986-5] Mamaev, Y. L. (1986). The taxonomical composition of the family Microcotylidae Taschenberg, 1879 (Monogenea). Folia Parasitologica, 33, 199-206. PDF

Microcotyle furcata

Contents

Systematics

Description

Hosts and localities

Related Research Articles

References