Return to the sea: Sagaratrema n. g. for the marine Liolopidae (Digenea: Diplostomida) with two new species parasitic in snakes from Sri Lanka

Manage Lenin I De Silva; Erandi Pathirana; R P V J Rajapakse; Storm B Martin

doi:10.1017/S0031182026101802

Back

Return to the sea: Sagaratrema n. g. for the marine Liolopidae (Digenea: Diplostomida) with two new species parasitic in snakes from Sri Lanka

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Return to the sea: Sagaratrema n. g. for the marine Liolopidae (Digenea: Diplostomida) with two new species parasitic in snakes from Sri Lanka

Manage Lenin I De Silva, Erandi Pathirana, R P V J Rajapakse and Storm B Martin

Parasitology

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182026101802

PMID: 41776734

Appears in Open Access via Read & Publish Agreements

Files and links (1)

pdf

Accepted manuscript3.10 MBDownload View

Open Access CC BY V4.0

Abstract

biogeography

Hydrophinae

<italic>Hydrophis</italic>

Indo-West Pacific

kraits

<italic>Laticauda</italic>

parasites

sea snakes

Trematoda

The Liolopidae Dollfus, 1934 is a small family of digenetic trematodes with sexual adults parasitic in aquatic reptiles and amphibians. Liolopids exploiting snakes are constrained to Harmotrema Nicoll, 1914, but the genus includes species with presumably freshwater life cycles parasitic in terrestrial snakes as well as species with presumably marine life cycles parasitic in viviparous sea snakes and amphibious kraits. We hypothesise that this ecological distinction implies substantial separation in evolutionary history and propose Sagaratrema De Silva, Pathirana & Martin n. g. to accommodate the liolopids in marine snakes. Three species are delineated through an integrated approach, from novel collections of viviparous sea snakes in Sri Lanka, Sagaratrema rajapaksei De Silva, Pathirana & Martin n. sp., Sagaratrema rajakarunae De Silva, Pathirana & Martin n. sp., and Sagaratrema indicum (Chattapadhyaya, 1970) n. comb. (= H. indica) originally reported from India. Three other species known from marine snakes are transferred from Harmotrema to the new genus: S. laticaudae (Yamaguti, 1933) n. comb. (designated as the type-species), S. eugari (Tubangui & Masilungan, 1936) n. comb. and S. linguiforme (Wang, 1987) n. comb. (= H. linguiforme). The three species from Sri Lanka are similarly genetically distinct in sympatry as each is relative to S. laticaudae from Japan. Following these proposals, Harmotrema is revised and rendered monotypic for the type-species H. infecundum. Morphologically, Sagaratrema is distinguished from Harmotrema and other liolopid genera by the arrangement of the excretory vesicles, distribution of the vitellarium and size and shape of the body.

Details

Title: Return to the sea: Sagaratrema n. g. for the marine Liolopidae (Digenea: Diplostomida) with two new species parasitic in snakes from Sri Lanka
Authors/Creators: Manage Lenin I De Silva - University of Peradeniya
Erandi Pathirana - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
R P V J Rajapakse - University of Peradeniya
Storm B Martin - Murdoch University
Publication Details: Parasitology
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Number of pages: 17
Identifiers: 991005868962007891
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Metrics

73 File views/ downloads

9 Record Views

1 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 1 Clinical & Life Sciences; 1.163 Parasitology - General; 1.163.645 Fish Parasitology
Web Of Science research areas: Parasitology
ESI research areas: Microbiology