A new species of Capillariid Nematode from New Caledonia.

Capillariid Nematodes are parasitic worms infecting a variety of different Vertebrate hosts. The group is split into 22 genera, of which nine are parasites of Fish. Members of the genus Capillaria cause infections in a wide range of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Fish and Sharks, though those infecting marine Fish are poorly known.

In a paper published in the journal Parasite on 23 December 2014, František Moravec of the Institute of Parasitology at the Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Jean-Lou Justine of the Institut Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle describe a new species of Capillaria from a Leopard Coral Grouper, Plectropomus leopardus, caught off Baie de Koutio, on Nouméa Island, New Caledonia.

The new species is named Capillaria plectropomi, in reference to the host species. Nineteen specimens of both sexes were collected from the intestine of a single Fish; 23 other Leopard Coral Grouper’s inspected yielded no further specimens. The males ranged from 7.52-10.00 mm in length, the females from 9.57–14.24 mm. The cuticle of the Worms were finely striated. The distribution of the species is unknown, but the host is found in the Western Pacific from southern Japan to Australia and eastwards to the Caroline Islands, Fiji and Tonga.

Capillaria plectropomi from Plectropomus leopardus. (A) Anterior end of male, lateral view. (B) Stichocyte in middle part of stichosome. (C) posterior end of male, lateral view. Moravec & Justine (2015).

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