Description of a New Species of Rhabdias (Nematoda: Rhabditida: Rhabdiasidae) from Ishigakijima Island, Okinawa, Japan

Abstract

A new nematode species, Rhabdias kiri sp. nov., which is a lung parasite in a microhylid frog Microhyla okinavensis Stejneger, 1901 from Ishigakijima island in the Yaeyama Islands of Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan is described and illustrated. This new species differs from other congeners inhabiting East Asia and the Russian Far East in its features: i.e., shorter body length, slender body shape, narrower and shallower buccal capsule, shorter head diameter and cuticular inflation less prominent in the anterior and middle parts of the body. This is the first record of a frog parasite in Rhabdias from the Yaeyama Islands. Partial sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 12S rDNA genes were provided as DNA barcodes for the new species.