Unusual haemogregarines parasitizing intertidal teleosts from the subtropical east coast of South Africa, with the description ofHaemogregarina kunegeminasp. nov.

Abstract

Of three intertidal fish species collected on the east coast of South Africa, 67% (127/190) had haemogregarine infections. Horned rockskippers,Antennablennius bifilumGünther, 1861, demonstrated 77% parasite prevalence, maned blennies,Scartella emarginataGünther, 1861, 53% prevalence, and a single specimen of the hotlips triplefin,Helcogramma obtusirostre Klunzinger, 1871, was also parasitized. Less than 1% ofA. bifilumandS. emarginataerythrocytes were infected, but ~2% of those ofH. obtusirostre. Haemogregarines inA. bifilumandS. emarginatawere morphologically similar toH. bigeminaLaveran & Mesnil, 1901, but uncharacteristic clusters of four merozoites were observed inS. emarginataand paired gamonts were smaller overall than those of the type species, although close in size toH. bigeminareported elsewhere. Intraerythrocytic gamonts inH. obtusirostre, occurred mainly in fours, a characteristic of the European species originally namedH. quadrigeminaBrumpt & Lebailly, 1904. Additionally however, this South African species infrequently demonstrated eight intraerythrocytic gamonts and host cells commonly had spiny perimeters and were de-haemoglobulinized. Owing to the differences observed, this species is described as new to science and namedHaemogregarina kunegeminasp. nov. Possible haemogregarine developmental stages were found in first and second stage pranizae of the gnathiid isopod,Gnathia pilosusHadfield, Smit & Avenant-Oldewage, 2008, that had fed on the three fish hosts. These are the first reports of haemogregarines from teleosts of the subtropical east coast of South Africa.