New records of species of Philometra (Nematoda: Philometridae) from marine fishes off New Caledonia, including P. cephalopholidis sp. n. from Cephalopholis sonnerati (Serranidae).

Two different species of Philometra Costa, 1845 were collected from marine perciform fishes, the tomato hind Cephalopholis sonnerati (Valenciennes) (Serranidae) and the painted sweetlips Diagramma pictum (Thunberg) (Haemulidae), from off New Caledonia, South Pacific. Nematodes (only males) from the gonad of C. sonnerati represent a new taxon, P. cephalopholidis sp. n., which is mainly characterized by almost equally long spicules (length 186-228 μm), the shape and structure of the gubernaculum with a dorsally lamellate distal tip, and the structure of the caudal end. The nematodes (only gravid females) from abdominal tissues of D. pictum may represent an undescribed species, but, because of the absence of conspecific males, they could not be specifically identified. Philometra cephalopholidis is the sixth nominal species of this genus recorded from fishes off New Caledonia and the thirteenth species of these parasites described from fishes of the family Serranidae.