Henneguya mauritaniensis n. sp. (Myxozoa) from the arterial bulb of Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes, 1830) off Mauritania.

We describe a new species of myxozoan, Henneguya mauritaniensis n. sp., extracted from the arterial bulb of the bluespotted seabream, Pagrus caeruleostictus (Valenciennes, 1830), collected in Mauritanian waters. Out of the 209 individuals examined, 30.1 % were infected with this new taxon. Spore total length ranged from 15.0 to 20.5 μm with a mean of 17.9 μm. The two polar capsules were equal in size, and pyriform and caudal appendages joined until mid-length. Morphometric analysis revealed significant differences between H. mauritaniensis n. sp. and morphologically similar species from this region as well as congeners known from other sparid hosts. Phylogenetic analysis of 18 S rDNA indicated that this new species is closely related to Henneguya pagri, reported recently from Pagrus major off Japan. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood analyses of the 18 S rDNA dataset also revealed that species of marine Henneguya reported forming pseudocysts in the hearts of their fish hosts were closely related. Histological analysis of the H. mauritaniensis n. sp. pseudocysts embedded in the arterial bulb of P. caeruleostictus suggests that these parasites may cause considerable pathology, which may impact negatively on the health of the fish host. Finally, we discussed the importance of a combination of morphological and molecular analysis for species description because of high variability in size within the same taxa.