TY - JOUR
TI - Taxonomic Assessment of Three North American Trichodinids by Reevaluating the Taxon Validity of Trichodina heterodentata Duncan, 1977 (Peritrichia)
AU - de Jager, Gerhard P.
AU - Basson, Linda
TI - Taxonomic Assessment of Three North American Trichodinids by Reevaluating the Taxon Validity of Trichodina heterodentata Duncan, 1977 (Peritrichia)
AB - Trichodina heterodentata was first described from fish breeding farms in the Philippines by Bryan Duncan in 1977 as ectoparasites of imported cichlids, more specifically the southern African Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters, 1852) from the Limpopo River System. This trichodinid has subsequently been described from almost every continent, bar North America. Being a cosmopolitan species, with a preference for cichlid hosts, it has unambiguous morphological features, but with distinct variances between and within populations. After reviewing previous descriptions of North American trichodinids, analysing the morphological data (both generally published information along with the original type material from the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, U.S.A.) and investigating the distribution patterns of the southern African introduced O. mossambicus throughout the North American water systems, three of the four studied trichodinids (T. hypsilepis Wellborn, 1967, T. salmincola Wellborn, 1967 and T. vallata Wellborn, 1967) are proposed to represent the same species as T. heterodentata. According to nomenclature rules T. hypsilepis henceforth represents the valid taxon (synonyms: T. salmincola, T. vallata and T. heterodentata). This not only questions the validity of several trichodinid species, but also indicates the probability of an African alien introduction into North America.
VL - 2019
IS - Volume 58, Issue 3
PY - 2019
SN - 0065-1583
C1 - 1689-0027
SP - 125
EP - 139
DO - 10.4467/16890027AP.19.013.11914
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/acta-protozoologica/article/taxonomic-assessment-of-three-north-american-trichodinids-by-reevaluating-the-taxon-validity-of-trichodina-heterodentata-duncan-1977-peritrichia
KW - Trichodina hypsilepis
KW - T. heterodentata
KW - Oreochromis mossambicus