Fish blood flukes (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) from Indonesia: Two new genera and species infecting the banded eagle ray, Aetomylaeus nichofii (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) Capap acute accent e and Desoutter, 1979 (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae) from Borneo

Specimens representing two new species of blood flukes (Digenea: Aporocotylidae), each representing a new genus, were collected from the banded eagle ray, Aetomylaeus nichofii (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) Capape ' and Desoutter, 1979, in Borneo, Indonesia. Aetohemecus kirstenjensenae n. sp., n. gen. infected the heart of a banded eagle ray from Manggar, East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia, and differs from its congeners by having an oviducal ampullae, an oo center dot type posterior to all genitalia, and a uterus that extends anterior to the ovary. The new species resembles Selachohemecus spp., which infect requiem sharks (Carcharhinidae) in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, by having a single ventrolateral row of large C-shaped tegumental spines, Xor H-shaped intestine, and a post-caecal ovary. Specimens of Homestios janinecairae n. sp., n. gen. infected the heart of a banded eagle ray from Takisung, South Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia. The new species resembles other blood flukes that infect rays (Batoidea) by having a single, curving testis and an inverse U-shaped intestine as well as by lacking tegumental spines. It differs from all aporocotylids infecting batoids that lack spines by having a uterus that extends anteriad beyond the level of the seminal vesicle. The present study comprises the first record of an aporocotylid from Indonesia or from an eagle ray (Myliobatidae). To our knowledge, these are the first trematodes reported from a species of Aetomylaeus. The proposals of new genera and the description of two new species herein brings the total number of nominal chondrichthyan blood flukes to 13 species of 11 genera.

Automated summary

Specimens representing two new species of blood flukes, each representing a new genus, were collected from banded eagle rays in Borneo, Indonesia. These new species share similarities with other blood flukes infecting different shark species, but also have distinct characteristics that set them apart.