Novel myxosporean species parasitizing an economically important fish from the Amazon basin

This paper provides morphological and phylogenetic analyses of two new myxobolid species found infecting Piaractus brachypomus from the Amazon basin. The fish were caught in the Tapajós River, in the municipality of Santarém, in the state of Pará, Brazil. The plasmodial development of Henneguya brachypomus n. sp. occurred in the gill lamellae while Myxobolus pirapitingae n. sp. developed in the pyloric cecum. Morphological analyses did not identify inflammatory infiltrate for either species, but H. brachypomus n. sp. induced stretching of the epithelium, compression of the adjacent tissues, and displacement and deformation of the neighboring lamellae. The mature myxospores of H. brachypomus n. sp. were ellipsoid, with a length of 11.7–13.8 μm, a width of 4.0–4.6 μm, and a thickness of 3.5˗4.3 μm. The polar capsules were elongated, with a length of 5.6–7.3 μm and a width of 1.3–2.0 μm, and each contained a polar filament with 8–9 coils. The caudal process was 40.5–48.1 μm long and the total length of the myxospore was 52.4–61.6 μm. Myxobolus pirapitingae n. sp. exhibited rounded mature myxospores measuring 10.0–11.1 μm in length, 7.0–7.6 μm in width, and 5.4–6.3 μm in thickness. The polar capsules were of equal size and occupied less than half the myxospore, measuring 3.5–4.0 μm in length and 2.0–2.6 μm in width, with each containing a polar filament with 6–7 coils. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial small subunit ribosomal DNA (ssrDNA) sequences showed that H. brachypomus n. sp. clustered as a sister species of Henneguya piaractus , while M. pirapitingae n. sp. was grouped in a sub-clade together with Myxobolus matosi and Myxobolus colossomatis .