Mexiconema africanum sp. n. (Nematoda: Daniconematidae) from the catfish Auchenoglanis occidentalis from Lake Turkana, Kenya.

Abstract

A new species of dracunculoid nematode, Mexiconema africanum sp. n. (Daniconematidae), is described from the abdominal cavity and the intestine (rarely also the gall bladder) of the catfish Auchenoglanis occidentalis (Valenciennes) (Claroteidae, Siluriformes) from Lake Turkana, Kenya. The new species differs from two other congeners mainly in the absence of two large cell nuclei in the glandular oesophagus, presence of well-developed lateral cephalic elevations, more numerous (14) cephalic papillae and a much longer body of the gravid female (18-22 mm); from Mexiconema cichlasomae Moravec, Vidal and Salgado Maldonado, 1992 also in less numerous (two) caudal processes and a different arrangement of genital papillae in the male. M. africanum is the first representative of the dracunculoid family Daniconematidae described from Africa.