Musculoskeletal and nervous systems of the attachment organ in three species of Diplectanum (Monogenea: Dactylogyroidea).

The taxonomy of Diplectanum Diesing, 1858, a genus of monopisthocotylean monogeneans, remains unsettled and needs to be revised based on new morphological criteria. Recent studies in monopisthocotyleans have shown that the muscle arrangement in the posterior attachment organ (haptor) differs between congeneric species and can be used as an additional criterion in genus-level taxonomy. To explore the possibility of using the haptoral musculature and nervous system in the taxonomy of Diplectanum, we conducted a detailed confocal-microscopy study of three species of Diplectanum (D.

Haptoral neuromusculature in two species of Dactylogyrus Diesing, 1850 (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae).

The taxonomy of Dactylogyrus Diesing, 1850 (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae), like that of most monopisthocotyleans, relies heavily on the morphology of sclerites of the posterior attachment organ (haptor). However, the associated neuromusculature is essentially unknown and, therefore, the aim of this study was to use confocal microscopy to examine the haptoral neuromusculature in two species of Dactylogyrus: D. amphibothrium Wagener, 1857 and D.