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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Three species of Magnibursatus Naidenova, 1969 (Digenea: Derogenidae) from Atlantic and Black Sea marine teleosts

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Three species of Magnibursatus Naidenova, 1969 are described from marine teleosts: M. skrjabini (Vlasenko, 1931), the type species of the genus, from the gobiid Zosterisessor ophiocephalus on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast; M. bartolii sp. n. from the sparid Boops boops off the Atlantic coast of Spain; and M. minutus sp. n. from the gobiid Neogobius eurycephalus on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. M. bartolii differs from all other Magnibursatus species in its larger sinus-sac (length >250 µm, width >150 µm) and the more posterior location of testes. This species is also unusual in that it occurs in the branchial chamber and on the gills of its host. M. minutus is distinguished by the distinctly smaller dimensions of the body (length <1000 µm, width <200 µm), organs and eggs. These species are also distinguished from both M. caudofilamentosa (Reimer, 1971) and Tyrrhenia blennii Paggi et Orecchia, 1975. A key to the species of Magnibursatus is presented. During a survey of parasites of bogue, Boops boops (L.), off the Atlantic coasts of Spain, we came across a species possessing characteristics of two halipegine derogenid genera, Magnibursatus Naidenova, 1969 and Tyrrhenia Paggi et Orecchia, 1975. In attempting to identify the specimens we have examined comparative material (27 specimens) from Black Sea gobiid fishes provisionally identified as Magnibursatus skrjabini (Vlasenko, 1931) Naidenova, 1969 by Dr. G. Dimitrov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). We have found that the Atlantic form and part of the Black Sea material both show some distinctive features, which led us to describe them as new species. This paper includes a redescription of M. skrjabini and descriptions of two new species of Magnibursatus, one collected from B. boops off the Northern Atlantic coasts of Spain and the other from Black Sea gobiids. MATERIALS AND METHODS The trematodes from B. boops were dissected out from freshly frozen fish, fixed in alcohol-formol-acetic acid (AFA), transferred to 70% ethanol, stained with iron acetocarmine (Georgiev et al. 1986) and mounted in Canada balsam. Specimens from Black Sea fishes were dissected out from freshly caught fish, killed in a hot normal saline solution, transferred to 70% ethanol, stained and mounted as above. The type and voucher material is deposited at The Natural History Museum, London (BM(NH)) and in the collections of both the Central Laboratory of General Ecology, Bulgarian Academy