Metacercarias del tipo Paramonilicaecum (Digenea: Didymozoidae), parásitos accidentales de elasmobranquios (Elasmobranchii) del golfo de México e identificación de metacercarias (Didymozoidae) de la Colección Nacional de Helmintos

Abstract

During an ongoing study of the helminths of stingrays (Elasmobranchii), 12 stingrays were collected from 3 localities in the state of Veracruz, Mexico: Laguna de Tamiahua, Laguna de Tampamachoco, and a costal reef in the Gulf of Mexico. Metacercarias were collected from the spiral valves ofDasyatis say (bluntnose stingray), Gymnura micrura (lesser butterfly ray), and Rhinobatus lentiginosus (Atlantic guitarfish). The metacercarias, accidental parasites, were assigned to type Paramonilicaecum (Digenea: Didymozoidae). Material (Didymozoidae) previously deposited in the Colección Nacional de Helmintos, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, was re-identified. This is the first report of a species in larval phase of the "Type" Paramonilicaecum from the Gulf of Mexico, Veracruz, and the first report from a Mexican stingray.