Redescription of Argulus mongolianus (Crustacea: Branchiura: Argulidae), an Ectoparasite of Freshwater Fishes in East Asia, with Its First Record from Japan

Abstract

Both adult females and males of Argulus mongolianus Tokioka, 1939 were collected from the buccal cavity wall and body surface of freshwater fishes in Lake Izunuma and Lake Uchinuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northen Honshu, Japan. The original description of the species was insufficient, based on a single female from Inner Mongolia, China, and no further description has been made to date. Thus, this paper redescribes A. mongolianus based on the newly-collected specimens, including the first description of the male. This represents the first record of A. mongolianus from Japan. The infected fishes were largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède, 1802), common carp, Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758, Japanese white crucian carp, Carassius cuvieri Temminck and Schlegel, 1846, and silver crucian carp, Carassius sp. The three species other than common carp are new host records for A. mongolianus. This parasite was most probably introduced with an unspecified freshwater fish from China into Japan.