Four New Diclidophorids (Monogenoidea) Parasitic on the 
Gills of Marine Fishes from the Southwest Coast of India 
R. VlSWANATHAN UNNITHAN 1 
During the course of studies on the para- 
sites of marine food fishes from the Indian seas, 
in the Marine Biological Laboratory at Trivan- 
drum and the Central Marine Fisheries Research 
Institute at Mandapam Camp, the author col- 
lected four new species of monogenetic trema- 
todes belonging to the family Diclidophoridae 
Fuhrmann, 1928, These species are described be- 
low. The collection and treatment of specimens 
was as described in a previous work (Unnithan, 
1957:28-29'). 
Family DICLIDOPHORIDAE Fuhrmann, 1928, 
sensu Price, 1943 
Subfamily DICLIDOPHORINAE Cerf., 1896, 
sensu emend Price, 1943 
Upenicola n. gen. 
GENERIC DIAGNOSIS: Diclidophorinae with a 
mazocraeid body shape; haptor constricted pos- 
teriorly, without extension of internal organs ex- 
cept the unbranched terminal ends of the crura; 
clamps, like sucker frames, with heavy cuticu- 
larization; clamp skeleton, though it resembles 
Diclidophora , is much different; no muscular in- 
cipient sucker present in the clamp; lappet ab- 
sent; prepharynx present; male genital pore 
armed with six hooks; cirrus and penis absent; 
testes intercrural, postovarian; vitellaria large; 
ovary median, bent, club shaped, vaginal duct 
present; vitelline ducts absent; huge paspro- 
statica present. Parasitic on the gills of marine 
fishes. 
GENOTYPE: Upenicola up ene aides n. sp. 
Upenicola upeneoides n. sp. 
Figs. 1-5 
Body elongate oval, anterior fourth tapering 
with rounded tip, posterior fourth formed by 
the haptor, haptor demarcated from the rest of 
the body by a shallow constriction on each side, 
1 Present address : Indian Ocean Biological Centre, 
Ernakulam— 6, India. Manuscript received May 21, 
1964. 
haptor with a prominent posterior median notch 
and three shallow lateral notches on each side 
(Fig. 1). Total length 2.9 mm; maximum width 
across middle of the body, 63 ft. 
Mouth subterminal and crescentic; oral 
pouches spherical with a thick muscular rim, 
right pouch 63 ft and left pouch 58 ft in diam- 
eter; prepharynx small, spherical, 21 ft wide, 
situated between the oral pouches; pharynx 
fairly large, spherical (Fig. 2), anterior border 
slightly overlapping the prepharynx. From the 
oral pouches and the pharynx short thin parallel 
muscle fibers run backward to the level of the 
male pore. Oesophagus wide but ill-defined and 
unbranched, bifurcates into the intestinal crura 
about 535 ft from the anterior end of the body. 
The crura are wide and extend into the haptor 
where they end blindly close to one another; 
distal ends of the crura slightly enlarged, the 
outer branches of each crus simple short and 
wide, intercrural branches short and ill-defined 
except in the testes zone; crura in the haptoral 
region devoid of lateral branches; crura and 
their branches obscured by the large overlying 
vitelline follicle. 
Haptor mazocraeid in shape, almost as wide 
as body with four clamps on each side of the 
posterior median notch, each clamp situated in 
the apex between the two adjoining notches, 
spherical or ovoid, 63 X 63 ft-6 3 X 84 ft, right 
and left clamp symmetrical, sessile; clamp cap- 
sule devoid of oblique striae, lip of the capsule 
narrow and thin; clamp sclerites (Fig. 3) more 
or less declidophorid in structure but shape 
slightly different, cuticularization is greater and 
the fleshy structure noticeable in diclidophorid 
clamps absent, distal end of the median spring 
highly expanded; terminal median lappet absent. 
Testes 11, arranged in two unequal longi- 
tudinal rows, 7 in the right and 4 in the left 
row, postovarian and intercrural, rectangular or 
oval 63 X 21 ft-63 X 84 ft; vas deferens thin 
and narrow, originates from the anterior region 
79 
