Dr. Murai Éva - Gubányi András szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 27. (Budapest, 1994)
Description of Myxobolus karuni sp. n. and Myxobolus persicus sp. n. (Myxosporea, Myxozoa) from Barbus grypus of the River Karun, Iran Mahmoud MASOUMIAN 1 , Ferenc BASKA 2 and Kálmán MOLNÁR 2 Iranian Fisheries Research and Training Organization, Department of Fish Diseases, P.O.Box 14155-6116 Tehran, Iran Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1581 Budapest, P.O.Box 18, Hungary (Received 30 November, 1994) Abstract: Two new Myxobolus (Myxosporea, Myxozoa) species (M. karuni sp. n. and M. persicus sp. n.) are described from the gills of Barbus grypus collected from River Karun (Persian Gulf water system). The two species differ from each other in location and morphology. Until plasmodia of M karuni start their development in the blood vessels of the primary gill filaments, and the cysts are located in the central parts of the filaments free from respiratory plates, plasmodia of M persicus are formed under the respiratory epithelium of the secondary gill lamellae and their cysts grow around the capillaries. In Barbus grypus the two Myxosporea usually occurred in mixed infection, while in Barbus sharpeyi and B. luteus only M. persicus sp. n. was found. Key words: Myxosporea, Myxobolus, new species, Barbus spp., gills, Iran. INTRODUCTION The territory of Iran consists of three different faunal regions. Of them, the Mesopotamian region is the most interesting from the Zoogeographie point of view. The Mesopotamian region includes the drainage basin of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. River Karun, a left-side tributary of River Tigris, is the most important river in Iranian territory with its 850 km length and with a fish fauna mostly composed of typical species endemic in Mesopotamia. Among these species, members of the subfamily Barbinae have economic importance, as recently several successful efforts have been made to culture them in fish ponds (Yazdipour et al. 1991, Jamily et al. 1993, Nikpai et al. in press). The genus Myxobolus contains a large number of species. Landsberg and Lorn (1991) recorded 444 species, the majority of which were described from Eurasia and North America. The Central Asian region, which comprises also the northern and
