Stephen S Curran

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Researcher at Auburn University

Diplomonorchis micropogoni Nahhas & Cable, 1964 was considered a junior subjective synonym of Diplomonorchis leiostomi Hopkins, 1941 in 1969. Diplomonorchis leiostomi has since been widely reported from the coastal Western Atlantic between Delaware Bay and southern Brazil. Until now, taxonomically verifiable DNA sequence data for D. leiostomi has b...

The identity of a larval bucephalid infecting the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791), from a tidal river in Virginia is investigated using ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2) region and a portion of the 28S rDNA were isolated from genomic DNA from sporocysts containing cercari...

A new digenean species belonging in EncyclobrephusSinha, 1949 is described, and the generic diagnosis is amended to accommodate variation in several features of the new species. Worms were collected from the intestines of 2 specimens of the Mekong snail-eating turtle, Malayemys subtrijuga (Schlegel and Müller, 1845). Permanent whole-mounted worms w...

We herein resurrect and emend PlesiocreadiumWinfield, 1929 (Digenea: Macroderoididae) and provide a supplemental description of its type species, Plesiocreadium typicumWinfield, 1929, based on adult specimens collected from the intestine of bowfins, Amia calva Linnaeus, 1766 (Amiiformes: Amiidae), captured in the L'Anguille River (Mississippi River...

This paper presents a new haploporid digenean that expands the number of species of Saccoccoelioides to 27. The new species, Saccocoelioides kirchneri n. sp. was collected from the intestine of Cnesterodon decemmaculatus (Poeciliidae: Cyprinodontiformes) from Lago del Bosque, La Plata, Argentina. The new species possesses the diagnostic features fo...

We describe a new species of Plagioporus Stafford, 1904 infecting the intestine of two catostomids in the eastern USA. We emend Plagioporus to account for Nearctic congeners having ceca terminating at the level of the testes (previously diagnosed as having ceca terminating in the post-testicular space only) and testes in the posterior body extremit...

We herein resurrect and emend Pseudoparamacroderoides Gupta & Agrawal, 1968 (Digenea: Macroderoididae) and describe a new species, Pseudoparamacroderoides dongthapensisn. sp., from adult specimens infecting the intestine of a riverine catfish, Mystus mysticetus Roberts, (Siluriformes: Bagridae) in the Mekong River, Vietnam. Pseudoparamacroderoides...

This study investigated the identity of 2 lepocreadiid digenean species belonging in the genus Opechona Looss, 1907 that infect littoral fishes of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Opechona chloroscombriNahhas and Cable, 1964, a species previously known only from the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil, is reported herein from the Atlantic b...

Herein we describe a new species and propose a new genus, Posthovitellinum psiloterminae n. gen., n. sp. (Lissorchiidae: Asymphylodorinae), based on specimens that infect the intestine of Cyclocheilos enoplos (Bleeker, 1849) (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae), a migratory riverine carp from the Mekong River (Dong Thap province, Vietnam). The new species i...

Two new species of Cephalogonimidae Looss, 1899 (from Emoleptalea Looss, 1900 and Masenia Chatterji, 1933) are described from African freshwater fishes. Emoleptalea mozambiquensis n. sp. infected the turquoise killifish, Nothobranchius furzeri Jubb, in Mozambique and differs from its nine congeners by the combination of differences in body shape an...

The understanding of the evolution of variable sex determination mechanisms across taxa requires comparative studies among closely related species. Following the fate of a known master sex-determining gene, we traced the evolution of sex determination in an entire teleost order (Esociformes). We discovered that the northern pike (Esox lucius) maste...

Sexual reproduction is a ubiquitous basic feature of life and genetic sex determination is thus widespread, at least among eukaryotes. Understanding the remarkable diversity of sex determination mechanisms, however, is limited by the paucity of empirical studies. Here, we traced back the evolution of sex determination in an entire clade of vertebra...

Adult forms of members of the Callodistomidae always parasitize the gallbladder of freshwater fishes and occur in Africa and America. This study provides a description of a new South American species belonging in Prosthenhystera from the gallbladder of a characid fish ( Bryconamericus ikaa ), and ribosomal gene sequences (28S rDNA and ITS1-5.8S-ITS...

The presence and quantity of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) was surveyed using TaqMan real-time PCR to assess the extent of the virus in Mississippi Sound, USA. A total of 3577 wild decapods comprising 11 species was collected between November 2012 and August 2015: WSSV was present in 10 of the 11 species. Prevalence ranged from 5.1% in Uca rapax...

The validity of Genolopa Linton, 1910 has been controversial because the observation of presently recognized critical diagnostic morphological features (spines in the genital atrium and a bipartite, anteriorly spined terminal organ) were omitted from the original diagnosis, and these features were not universally appreciated as important diagnostic...

Uvulifer Yamaguti, 1934 is a genus of diplostomoidean digeneans that parasitizes kingfishers worldwide. Species have a Neascus-type metacercaria that encysts in or on fish intermediate hosts, often causing black spot disease. Only 3 prior studies published DNA sequence data for Uvulifer species with only 1 including a single named species (Uvulifer...

Megasolena mikra sp. nov. is described from the queen angelfish, Holacanthus ciliaris (Linnaeus), off Florida, USA. The new species can be differentiated from all other species of Megasolena Linton, 1910 except Megasolena littoralis Muñoz, George-Nascimento, and Bray, 2017 in possessing testes that are smaller in diameter than the ovary. The new sp...

River cooters (Pseudemys concinna Le Conte, 1830) from the Pascagoula River (30°37′07.67″N; 88°36′44.53″W; Mississippi, U.S.A.) were infected by Spirorchis scripta Stunkard, 1923, and Spirorchis testiplexus n. sp. The new species resembles Spirorchis artericola (Ward, 1921) Stunkard, 1921, and Spirorchis innominatus Ward, 1921 (type species), by ha...

Two cryptic species of haploporid digeneans belonging in Saccocoelioides are described from Costa Rica; one from a poeciliid fish Poecilia gillii and the other from a characid fish, Astyanx aeneus. Traditional morphological features are examined and found to be largely inefficient for differentiate among new species and 20 New World congeners. Comp...

The efficacy of oral versus injection exposure and the effect of feeding frequency on the transmission of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in cultured juvenile blue crabs Callinectes sapidus were investigated. Crabs in Group 1 (G-1, n = 48) were exposed once orally to 100 mg of WSSV-infected shrimp tissue mg ⁻¹ of body weight (BW). The oral inoculu...

Eighty-three Vermilion snappers (Rhomboplites aurorubens) from the northern Gulf of Mexico and 1 from off Puerto Rico, U.S.A., were examined for parasites. The survey resulted in recovery of 2 species of Monogenea: Euryhaliotrema tubocirrus and Microcotyloides incisa; 6 species of Digenea: Parahemiurus merus, Lecithochirium floridense, Hirudinella...

Compared with that of other charismatic elasmobranchs, the component community of metazoan parasites infecting endangered smalltooth sawfish Pristis pectinata is exceedingly poorly characterized: adults of Dermophthirioides pristidis and Neoheterocotyle inpristi (ectoparasitic flatworms of skin and gill, respectively) were the only confirmed parasi...

Tarpon, Megalops atlanticus, are large, migratory fish that frequent coastal and inshore waters of the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. During the late 1800’s and early to mid‐1900’s, schools of adult tarpon reportedly occurred in coastal Mississippi waters during summer months, suppor...

We provide a summary overview of the diversity of trematode parasites in freshwater fishes of the ‘New World’, i.e. the Americas, with emphasis on adult forms. The trematode fauna of three regions, South America, Middle America, and USA and Canada (North America north of Mexico), are considered separately. In total, 462 trematode species have been...

A new marine leech is herein described from specimens infecting the external surfaces, including the mouth and cloaca, of the banded guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata captured in the Gulf of California and eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California. The leech is assigned to Austrobdella by possessing continuous contractile coelomic...

Two species of digeneans belonging in Homalometron are described from Nearctic freshwater fundulid fishes: Homalometron robisoni n. sp. is described from the Blackstripe Topminnow, Fundulus notatus, from Oklahoma and Homalometron frocioneae n. sp. is described from the Banded Killifish, Fundulus diaphanus, from New York. Homalometron robisoni n. sp...

This study is the first to conduct an in-depth phylogenetic analysis of sequence data representing species of the Bucephalidae Poche, 1907 (Platyhelminthes: Digenea). Previous reports using sequencing methods have focused on ITS rDNA to augment and enhance morphology-based taxonomy and link life-cycle stages. Here, we analysed 37 sequences (25 are...

Forticulcita platana sp. n. and Forticulcita apiensis sp. n. are described from Mugil liza Valenciennes in Argentina, and from Mugil cephalus Linnaeus in Salt Springs, Florida, USA, respectively. Supplemental material relating to the hermaphroditic sac of Forticulcita gibsoni Blasco-Costa, Montero, Balbuena, Raga et Kostadinova, 2009 is provided fr...

Prosthenhystera oonastica n. sp. is described as a cryptic species from the gall bladder of three ictalurid catfishes, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), Ictalurus furcatus (Valenciennes), and Pylodictis olivaris (Rafinesque), in rivers in the southeastern United States. The species was originally named by Wilmer A. Rogers in 1979 but never formally...

Abstract Psuedolepidapedon balistis Manter, 1940 is reported from the grey triggerfish, Balistis capriscus Gmelin, 1789, from off Destin, Florida in the northern Gulf of Mexico. A fragment of ribosomal DNA comprising a short portion of the 3' end of 18S nuclear rDNA gene, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (=ITS1 + 5.8S rDNA gene + ITS2), and...

The plagioporine opecoelids Helicometra fasciata (Rudolphi, 1819) Odhner, 1902, and Macvicaria crassigula (Linton, 1910) Bartoli, Bray, and Gibson, 1989 have been reported from fishes in expansive geographic regions, disjointed from their type localities. New material of M. crassigula was collected from near its type locality as well as specimens r...

Digeneans are endoparasitic flatworms with complex life cycles including one or two intermediate hosts (first of which is always a mollusk) and a vertebrate definitive host. Digeneans may harbor intracellular endosymbiotic bacteria belonging to the genus Neorickettsia (order Rickettsiales, family Anaplasmataceae). Some Neorickettsia are able to inv...

##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

A new tongue worm (Pentastomida) belonging to the Sebekidae Sambon, 1922 (Porocephaloidea Sambon, 1922) is described based on exemplars collected from softshell terrapins Apalone spinifera aspera (Agassiz) and Apalone ferox (Schneider) in the southeastern United States; a new genus is erected to accommodate the new species. The new species belongs...

Digeneans in the genus Hirudinella de Blainville, 1828 (Hirudinellidae) from three species of pelagic fishes, Acanthocybium solandri (Cuvier), Makaira nigricans Lacépède and Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre), and one benthic fish, Mulloidichthys martinicus (Cuvier), from the Gulf of Mexico are investigated using comparison of ribosomal DNA. Four speci...

Abstract A new species, Crepidostomum affine n. sp., is described from Hiodon tergisus in Mississippi and morphological data are provided for C. auritum from Aplodinotus grunniens in Mississippi, and for C. illinoiense from H. alosoides in Minnesota. The new species is most similar morphologically to C. illinoiense, but has a shorter intertesticula...

The identities of 2 freshwater adult digenean species from the southeastern United States belonging in the Apocreadiidae, and consistent with the genus Homalometron Stafford, 1904, are investigated. One species is from the intestine of Aplodinotus grunniens from the Pearl River bordering Louisiana and Mississippi, U.S.A., and the other is from the...

Phylogenetic analyses of a range of gorgoderid trematodes based on ITS2 and partial 28S rDNA data lead us to propose the Degeneriinae n. subfam. for the genus Degeneria in recognition of its phylogenetic isolation and distinctive morphology and biology. The current concepts of the subfamilies Anaporrhutinae and Gorgoderinae were supported. Within t...

Abstract We emend the original generic diagnosis for Hyperandrotrema Maillard and Ktari, 1978 and redescribe its type species Hyperandrotrema cetorhini Maillard and Ktari, 1978 (Digenea: Aporocotylidae Odhner, 1912) based on the holotype and 2 paratypes collected from the heart of basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus). We also describe Hyperandrotrema...

Abstract Intromugil alachuaensis n. sp. is described based on specimens collected from the flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) from the Santa Fe River in Florida. The new species is the fourth recognized species in the genus and the second from North America, with the other 2 being confined to South America. Intromugil mugilicolus from Louisiana...

Abstract Homalometron palmeri n. sp. is described and reported from the following fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico: Micropogonias undulatus, Sciaenops ocellatus, Bairdiella chrysoura, Pogonias cromis, Fundulus grandis, Fundulus similis; and Eucinostomus argenteus. This species has historically been misidentified as Homalometron pallidum by som...

The infrequently reported allocreadiid digenean Creptotrema funduli Mueller, 1934 is documented from the blackstripe topminnow, Fundulus notatus (Cyprinodontiformes: Fundulidae), in the headwaters of the Biloxi River, Harrison County, Mississippi. Specimens from Mississippi were compared with the type material from Fundulus diaphanus menona from On...

Prior to 2006, juvenile tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) were rarely documented from Mississippi and Louisiana estuaries. Our collections of juvenile tarpon (Mississippi, n=196, 50-285 mm FL; Louisiana, n=85, 82-184 mm SL) from coastal wetlands during 2006 – 2011, as well as documented reports of juveniles provided by collaborating fishers, indicated t...

Adults of Lecithochirium floridense (Digenea: Hemiuridae) parasitized the stomach in each of 22 necropsied lionfish, Pterois cf. volitans (Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae) (prevalence  =  100%, mean intensity  =  11), captured in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean off Beaufort, North Carolina (34°14.83'N, 76°35.25'W). This is the first report of a digen...

Two new allocreadiid trematodes are described from the intestine of characid fishes from Rio Itaya, a tributary of the Amazon River near Iquitos, Peru. Auriculostoma foliaceum n. sp. is described from Bryconops cf. caudomaculatus (Günther, 1864) Backup, 2003, and Auriculostoma diagonale n. sp. from Stethaprion cf. erythrops Cope, 1870. Auriculostom...

Homalometron elongatum is reexamined using heat-killed material that was not subjected to pressure during fixation from Gerres cinereus collected from San Juan Harbor, Puerto Rico, U.S.A. The new material is compared with some paratype specimens and differs by having a much less variable forebody length, and a median rather than submedian genital p...

A new cryptogonimid trematode is described from the white crappie, Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque, 1818, collected from Lake Chotard, an oxbow lake directly connected to the Mississippi River in Issaquena County, and from a small ephemeral oxbow periodically connected with the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, both in Mississippi, U.S.A. Caecincola...

The testes of a 5-year-old, male, crossbred Schnauzer dog were the indicator organs for detection of massive pentastomiasis. Necropsy revealed numerous additional encysted parasites within the mesenteric lymph nodes, omentum, liver, sub-serosa of the small and large intestines, mesentery, and lungs. The nymphs had a pseudosegmented body, containing...

The generic diagnosis of Nagmia Nagaty, 1930, is emended to include species having some vitelline follicles extending into the extracecal space. Two new species belonging in the genus are described from the Gulf of California: Nagmia rodmani n. sp. from the body cavity of the giant electric ray, Narcine entemedor Jordan and Starks, 1895, and Nagmia...

Within the western North Atlantic Ocean there are at least 4 genera and 5 species of chimaeroids occurring in deep waters generally associated with outer continental slopes or areas of high bathymetric relief (Didier 2002; Didier 2004). Two chimaeroids, Chimaera cubana and Hydrolagus alberti, are known to be indigenous to the Caribbean Sea in water...

Rhipidocotyle tridecapapillata n. sp. is described from the intestine of the white bass, Morone chrysops (Rafinesque, 1820), from the Luxapalila River in Lowndes County, Mississippi, U.S.A. The new species has 13 papillae that protrude laterally from the anterior rim of the dorsal lobe of the rhynchus, enabling easy differentiation from the only kn...

A new cryptogonimid trematode is described from the white crappie, Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque, 1818, collected from Lake Chotard, an oxbow lake directly connected to the Mississippi River in Issaquena County, and from a small ephemeral oxbow periodically connected with the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, both in Mississippi, U.S.A. Caecincola...

Two new digenean species belonging in Creptotrema Travassos, Artigas and Pereira, 1928 are described from specimens stored in the invertebrate collection at the Museum of Natural History, Geneva, Switzerland. Creptotrema lamothei n. sp. is described from Ageneiosus brevifi lis Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840 (Siluriformes: Ageneiosida...

Two new digenean species belonging in Creptotrema Travassos, Artigas and Pereira, 1928 are described from specimens stored in the invertebrate collection at the Museum of Natural History, Geneva, Switzerland. Creptotrema lamothei n. sp. is described from Ageneiosus brevifilis Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840 (Siluriformes: Ageneiosidae...