Goezeella Fuhrmann, 1916

Philippe V. Alves, Alain de Chambrier, José L. Luque & Tomáš Scholz, 2017, Reappraisal of Goezeella Fuhrmann, 1916 (Cestoda: Proteocephalidae), parasites of Neotropical catfishes (Siluriformes), with description of a new species from Pimelodella cristata (Heptapteridae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 124 (2), pp. 335-350 : 336-337

Goezeella Fuhrmann, 1916

Amended diagnosis: Onchoproteocephalidea , Proteocephalidae . Testes, ovary, vitelline follicles and uterus cortical. Small to medium-sized, robust worms, strobila acraspedote, with longitudinal and transverse grooves; proglottids variable in shape and size. Scolex conical, with rounded to quadrangular apical part, without apical organ, wider than proliferative zone (neck); metascolex well-developed, wrinkled, formed by enlargement of neck. Suckers robust, biloculate; loculi variable in shape and size, interlocular septum conspicuous or not. Internal longitudinal musculature well-developed, with numerous individual fibres not forming bundles; fibres more abundant on lateral sides of proglottids. Testes in one irregular field, in one or two layers, dorsally overlapping cirrus-sac and vitelline follicles. Cirrus-sac elongated to pear-shaped, internal sperm duct thick-walled, strongly coiled in proximal half of cirrus-sac. Genital pores markedly pre-equatorial, irregularly alternating. Genital atrium present, deep. Ovary with medullary isthmus and 2 follicular (grapelike) lobes penetrating inner longitudinal musculature to dorsal cortex; lobes with numerous dorsal outgrowths. Vagina anterior to cirrus-sac, surrounded by numerous chromophilic cells in distal (terminal) part (pars copulatrix vaginae); vaginal sphincter present. Vitelline follicles only on ventral or ventrolateral side of cortex, arranged in two uninterrupted lateral bands, widened towards ovarian level. Uterine development type 2 according to de Chambrier et al. (2004b). Parasites of siluriform catfishes in the Neotropical Region.

Type species: Goezeella siluri Fuhrmann, 1916 .

Additional species: Goezeella danbrooksi de Chambrier, Rego & Mariaux, 2004 ; Goezeella mariae sp. nov.

Remarks: The validity of Goezeella has been questioned since its establishment, mainly due to different assumptions on the taxonomic usefulness of two morphological traits, i.e. the presence or absence of a metascolex and the distribution of the internal organs in relation to the internal longitudinal musculature. Woodland (1925) synonymized Goezeella with Monticellia because they share the cortical position of all internal organs, whereas Harwood (1933) synonymized it with Corallobothrium Fritsch, 1886 based on the presence of a metascolex in species of both genera (see Scholz et al., 2011 for data on Corallobothrium ). Based on a cladistic analysis inferred from morphological characters, Brooks (1995) synonymized Choanoscolex La Rue, 1911 , Goezeella , Jauella Rego & Pavanelli, 1985 and Peltidocotyle Diesing, 1850 with Spatulifer Woodland, 1934 , questioning validity of Peltidocotyle , which should have priority, because of the assumed similarity of the metascolex development shared by these genera (see Brooks & Rasmussen, 1984). However, this synonymy has never been accepted by most of the authors, including Rego et al. (1999), de Chambrier & Vaucher (1999) and de Chambrier et al. (2004a), who recognized Goezeella as a valid genus. Recent molecular data suggest that the above-mentioned features may not be useful to assess the interrelations among proteocephalids and a more natural classification, reflecting the evolutionary history of the group, should be proposed (de Chambrier et al., 2004b, 2015b; Scholz et al., 2013).

As a result, the subfamilial classification proposed by W. N. F. Woodland and widely used for proteocephalids ( Rego, 1994; de Chambrier & Vaucher, 1999; Rego et al., 1999), based on the position of the testes, uterus and vitelline follicles in relation to the internal longitudinal musculature (see de Chambrier et al., 2009 and references therein) is not considered in the present account. Nevertheless, for practical reasons, we compared Goezeella with the 11 genera previously placed in the Monticelliinae ( Table 1 ), which are typified by the cortical position of the testes, ovary, vitelline follicles and uterus ( Rego, 1994).

Goezeella can be readily differentiated from all proteocephalid genera by the vitelline follicles present only in the ventral cortex, i.e. completely absent dorsally, with lateral bands widened at the ovarian level, and by the possession of the inner longitudinal musculature formed by individual muscle fibres rather than forming compact bundles.