GYRODACTYLUS BULLATARUDIS N. SP. FROM LEBISTES RETICULATUS PETERS WITH A STUDY OF ITS LIFE CYCLE

Abstract

Gyrodactylus bullatarudis n. sp. is described from the guppy (Lebistes reticulatus Peters). It can be separated from Gyrodactylus stephanus Mueller, 1937 and Gyrodactylus stegurus Mueller, 1937, which it resembles most closely, on the basis of two swellings which are present on the dorsal bar. Experiments showed that G. bullatarudis completes its life cycle, on the guppy, from egg to egg-producing adult in about 60 hr. at 25°–27 °C. Development of an individual from an egg to birth takes about 42 hr., whereas development of the embryo in the new-born individual is completed in 18 hr. or less.