Kuhnia scombri (Kuhn, 1829) Sproston, 1945

Hossen, Md Shafaet, Barton, Diane P., Wassens, Skye & Shamsi, Shokoofeh, 2022, Molecular characterisation of the Monogenea parasites of blue mackerel Scomber australasicus (Perciformes: Scombridae) in Australian waters, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 19, pp. 115-127 : 118

3.2.1. Kuhnia scombri

Seventeen specimens were observed in Victorian waters ( Fig. 1a–g and Table 4). Body lanceolate. Maximum width near mid-line, tapering to narrow anterior and posterior regions up until the haptor. Copulatory organ consists of a central pad with two rows of 5 genital hooks, and two smaller pads anterolaterally, each with one large hook ( Fig. 1c ). Haptor well separated from body proper, heart-shaped, contains eight clamps in two opposing rows of four clamps ( Fig. 1a ). Distance between clamp

The preliminary identification of the host species using morphological characteristics was ascertained by the sequencing of cox 1 gene. A search in GenBank for the representative sequence generated (Sequence ID: MZ274049–50) in this study showed 100% similarity with S. australasicus (Sequence ID: DQ107708) identified from Australian waters ( Ward et al., 2005), thus confirming the host’ s taxonomic status.

Figures

Fig. 1. Kuhnia scombri ex Scomber australasicus. a) Whole body; b) Oral suckers with pharynx; c) Copulatory organ; d) A typical egg; e) A typical clamp; f) Large anchors; g) Small anchors.