Davisia hexagrammi n. sp. (Myxosporea: Sinuolineidae) parasitic in the urinary bladder of marine fishes from the coasts of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Bay, China.

A new species of myxosporean (Sinuolineidae), Davisia hexagrammi n. sp. from marine fishes collected from the coasts off Qingdao (Tsingtao) and Rongcheng on the Yellow Sea coast and Laizhou Bay, China, is described. Both spores and plasmodia were found in the urinary bladder of two hosts, Hexagrammos otakii Jordan & Starks and Agrammus agrammus (Temminck & Schlegel). The diagnostic features of D. hexagrammi n. sp. are: trophozoite monosporous or disporous; spore body spherical, 9.5-10.5 (9.9 +/- 0.5) x 10-12 (10.8 +/- 1.0) microm in size and with a straight or slightly sinuous sutural line; two shell valves each with one long, hollow lateral appendage of 44-59 (52.4 +/- 6.9) microm in length; two spherical polar capsules arranged anteriorly, well-separated from each other and 3.5-4 (3.8 +/- 0.2) microm in diameter, coelozic; marine habitat.