Dr. Murai Éva - Gubányi András szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 28. (Budapest, 1995)

Philometra sp. from Barbus sharpeyi (Günther, 1874) Site of infection: Swimbladder wall Locality: River Karun Specimens found: 10 mature nongravid females and 7 males Description of matured females (Figs lc, d, e): White in colour, cuticle smooth. Length of body 2.8 to 13 mm. Width 0.1 to 0.54 mm. Body nearly uniform in diameter throughout, narrowing slightly toward both ends. The posterior end terminates in two distinct papilla-like projections. Mouth very small, spherical, no papillae or amphids seen by light microscopy. Oesophagus narrow, inflated in the anterior end. Ratio of oesophagus to body length 1 to 11. Ratio of oesophageal gland length to total length of oesophagus 76%. Vulvar opening lies in the posterior third of the body. It is circular in shape, continuing anteriorly in a 0.063 to 0.071 mm long sclerotized vagina 0.01 mm in diameter. The uterus is a uniformly thick sac, filled up with eggs 0.009 mm in diameter; it continues in tube-like ovaries in both directions. The anterior ovary starts from the uterus near the centre of the oesophagus, returns and ends close to the mouth of the intestine. The posterior ovary forms loops at the rectum and, returning, ends bluntly near the uterus. Description of males (Figs If, g): Body thread-like, whitish, with smooth cuticle. Its length 2.8 to 3.2 mm, maximum width 0.046 mm. Head end rounded; mouth similar to that of females. Papillae and amphids not seen by light microscopy. Oesophagus 0.413 mm long, cylindrical, muscular, with anterior end bulbously inflated. Posterior portion of the oesophagus with oesophageal gland 0.316 mm in length. Posterior end of the body distinctly lobed, showing laterally two papilla-like protrusions. Spicules sclerotized, slender, equal in size, measuring 0.050-0.055 mm in length. Their width 0.002 mm at the base and 0.005 mm at the middle. Gubernaculum is a 0.027-0.031 mm long, bent sclerotized plate with lancet-shaped posterior end. DISCUSSION Relatively few philometrid nematodes were recovered from Barbus spp. examined during this study. However, the specimens found in B. luteus and B. sharpeyi showed typical characteristics of the genus Philometra. The collected material allows us to conclude that the specimens found are not identical with the known species. Although Iraqi authors (Ali et al. 1987) identified their specimens collected from B. grypus with Ph. abdominalis, the possibility of this species to occur in the River Tigris system is very low. Gravid females of this Philometra resemble females of Ph. abdominalis Nybelin, Ph. ovata Zeder and Ph. kotlani Molnár, the three common abdominal species of cyprinids, and differ from them only in slight morphological features. From the biological aspect, however, the differences are more important. Ph. kotlani is a specific parasite of the asp. Ph. ovata has until now been found in abramids and leuciscids. Ph. abdominalis can complete its developmental cycle only in Phoxinus phoxinus and in Gobio spp. In other fishes including B. meridionalis only retarded forms of Ph. abdominalis were found in Hungary (Molnár 1967, 1969). No Philometra spp. are mentioned from B. barbus, a well-studied fish of European rivers (Moravec 1994, Vismanis et al. 1987). While the