{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T23:50:54Z","timestamp":1791244254950,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"American Society of Parasitologists","issue":"5","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Parasitology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The genus Flapocephalus Deshmukh, 1979, is a little-known group of lecanicephalidean cestodes parasitizing cowtail rays (genus Pastinachus R\u00fcppell) mainly in the Indo-Pacific region. Since the erection of the genus, with Flapocephalus trygonis Deshmukh, 1979, as the type species, and the description of a second species, Flapocephalus saurashtri Shinde and Deshmukh, 1979, both from Pastinachus sephen (Fabricius) from India, reports of this genus have been restricted mainly to brief mentions or discussion of its validity and taxonomic placement. More recently, phylogenetic analyses based on molecular sequence data that included specimens of Flapocephalus have supported Flapocephalus as a distinct genus allied with the Polypocephalidae Meggitt, 1924. Limited by the amount of detail provided in the original descriptions, the unavailability of type material, and the lack of a detailed generic diagnosis, we aimed to fully characterize the genus based on newly collected specimens. A total of 38 specimens of Pastinachus, representing 3 of the 5 described species and 1 undescribed species, from throughout the Indo-Pacific region were examined for specimens of Flapocephalus. Worms were prepared for examination with light and scanning electron microscopy and as histological sections. A subset of specimens was included in a phylogenetic analysis based on data for a portion of the 28S rDNA gene. Overall, these specimens were found to include the type species, 4 new species that are described herein (Flapocephalus monostylorchis Hanselman and Jensen n. sp., Flapocephalus capitonis Hanselman and Jensen n. sp., Flapocephalus rudkinorum Hanselman and Jensen n. sp., and Flapocephalus infundibulapex Hanselman and Jensen n. sp.), and 4 putative new species. Flapocephalus trygonis is redescribed from specimens from Pastinachus ater (Macleay) from Sri Lanka, and a neotype is designated. The newly described species are distinct genetically and can be distinguished morphologically from the existing species and one another based on a combination of total length, the shape of the apical organ, and the arrangement of testes and vitelline follicles. A revised diagnosis of the genus and a key to the described species are presented, as is a hypothesis of the interrelationships resulting from a maximum likelihood analysis including 4 of the 5 described species and the 4 putative new species. The presence of 4 glandular, sac-like structures surrounded by scolex proper, with channels that open to the outside at the base of the apical organ, is reported in lecanicephalidean tapeworms for the first time.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1645\/24-92","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]],"date-time":"2025-09-11T08:29:37Z","timestamp":1757579377000},"page":"582-605","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Revision of the Lecanicephalidean Genus Flapocephalus Deshmukh, 1979 (Eucestoda) from Cowtail Rays (Genus Pastinachus R\u00fcppell) (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae Jordan and Gilbert) with the Description of Four New Species"],"prefix":"10.1645","volume":"111","author":[{"given":"Katherine M.","family":"Hanselman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ramajeyam","family":"Gobiraj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Blue Resources Trust, 117 Vishnu Kovil Rd., Kalkudah 30410, Sri Lanka."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0294-8471","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kirsten","family":"Jensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1220","reference":[{"key":"33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"A. 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(Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae) from Trygon sephen from west coast of India.\" 261 (1979)"},{"key":"12","unstructured":"L. Euzet,  \"Keys to the Cestode Parasites of Vertebrates.\"  \"Order Lecanicephalidea Wardle and McLeod, 1952.\" 195 (1994)"},{"key":"16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. S. Herzog  and K. Jensen  \"Folia Parasitologica.\"  64, \"A new genus with two new species of lecanicephalidean tapeworms (Cestoda) from the mangrove whipray, Urogymnus granulatus (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae), from the Solomon Islands and northern Australia.\" 004 (2017)","DOI":"10.14411\/fp. 2017.004"},{"key":"17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. S. Herzog  and K. 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A monograph on the Lecanicephalidea (Platyhelminthes, Cestoda).\" 1 (2005)"},{"key":"22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. Jensen,  \"Systematic Parasitology.\"  64, \"A new species of Aberrapex Jensen, 2001 (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) from Taeniura lymma (Forssk\u00e5l) (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) from off Sabah, Malaysia.\" 117 (2006)","DOI":"10.1007\/s11230-005-9026-2"},{"key":"23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. Jensen, J. N. Caira, J. J. Cielocha, et al.  \"International Journal of Parasitology.\"  46, \"When proglottids and scoleces conflict: Phylogenetic relationships and a family-level classification of Lecanicephalidea (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda).\" 291 (2016)","DOI":"10.1016\/j. ijpara.2016.02.002"},{"key":"24","unstructured":"K. Jensen, J. J. Cielocha, K. S. Herzog, et al.  \"Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (2008\u20132017): Tapeworms from the Vertebrate Bowels of the Earth.\"  \"Lecanicephalidea.\" 207 (2017)"},{"key":"25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. Jensen  and R. R. Guyer  \"Journal of Parasitology.\"  107, \"First report of lecanicephalidean tapeworms (Eucestoda) from freshwater, including description of three new species of Tetragonocephalum Shipley and Hornell, 1905.\" 1 (2021)","DOI":"10.1645\/19-167"},{"key":"27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. Jensen  and S. L. Russell  \"Folia Parasitologica.\"  61, \"Seussapex, a new genus of lecanicephalidean tapeworm (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda) from the stingray genus Himantura (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) in the Indo-West Pacific with investigation of mode of attachment.\" 231 (2014)","DOI":"10.14411\/fp.2014.027"},{"key":"28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. R. Koch, K. Jensen, J. N. Caira,  \"Journal of Parasitology.\"  98, \"Three new genera and six new species of lecanicephalideans (Cestoda) from eagle rays of the genus Aetomylaeus (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae) from northern Australia and Borneo.\" 175 (2012)","DOI":"10.1645\/GE-2798.1"},{"key":"29","unstructured":"P. R. Last,  Fahmi, G. J. P. Naylor,  \"Descriptions of New Sharks and Rays from Borneo.\"  \"Pastinachus stellurostris sp. nov., a new stingray (Elasmobranchii: Myliobatiformes) from Indonesian Borneo.\" 129 (2010)"},{"key":"30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"P. R. Last, B. M. Manjaji, G. K. Yearsley,  \"Zootaxa.\"  1040, \"Pastinachus solocirostris sp. nov., a new species of stingray (Elasmobranchii: Myliobatiformes) from the Indo-Malay Archipelago.\" 1 (2005)","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.1040.1.1"},{"key":"31","unstructured":"P. R. Last  and B. M. Manjaji-Matsumoto  \"Descriptions of New Sharks and Rays from Borneo.\"  \"Description of a new stingray, Pastinachus gracilicaudus sp. nov. (Elasmobranchii: Myliobatiformes), based on material from the Indo-Malay Archipelago.\" 115 (2010)"},{"key":"34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"A. L\u00f6ytynoja  and N. Goldman  \"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\"  102, \"A algorithm or progressive multiple alignment of sequences with insertions.\" 10557 (2005)","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0409137102"},{"key":"35","unstructured":"B. M. Manjaji-Matsumoto, M. R. D. Carvalho, H. R. S. Santos, et al.  \"Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean.\"  1, \"Family Dasyatidae, stingrays.\" 598 (2022)"},{"key":"36","unstructured":"K. R. Mojica, K. Jensen, J. N. Caira,  \"Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.\"  61, \"Revision of Anteropora (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) and descriptions of five new species from stingrays (Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) in Borneo.\" 491 (2013)"},{"key":"37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"K. R. Mojica, K. Jensen, J. N. Caira,  \"Journal of Parasitology.\"  100, \"The ocellated eagle ray, Aetobatus ocellatus (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae), from Borneo and northern Australia as host of four new species of Hornellobothrium (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea).\" 504 (2014)","DOI":"10.1645\/13-411.1"},{"key":"40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"F. Pleijel, U. Jondelius, E. Norlinder, et al.  \"Molecular Physics and Evolution.\"  48, \"Phylogenies without roots? A plea for the use of vouchers in molecular phylogenetic studies.\" 369 (2008)","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ympev.2008.03.024"},{"key":"41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"H. M. Roudsari  and M. Haseli  \"Acta Parasitologica.\"  66, \"Polypocephalus barsami sp. nov., a new species of Polypocephalidae Meggit, 1924 (Lecanicephalidea) from the Persian Gulf.\" 178 (2020)","DOI":"10.1007\/s11686-020-00265-4"},{"key":"43","unstructured":"G. B. Shinde  and R. A. Deshmukh  \"Rivista di Parassitologia.\"  40, \"On a new species of Flapocephalus Deshmukh R.A., 1977 (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidae Braun, 1900) from a marine fish at Veraval, West Coast of India.\" 295 (1979)"},{"key":"44","unstructured":"A. E. Shipley,  \"Zoological Results based on material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and elsewhere, collected during the years 1895, 1896, and 1897, by Arthur Willey Part 5.\"  \"A description of the Entozoa collected by Dr. Willey during his sojourn in the Western Pacific.\" 531 (1900)"},{"key":"45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"C. K. Subhapradha,  \"Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.\"  121, \"On the genus Polypocephalus Braun, 1878 (Cestoda), together with descriptions of six new species from Madras.\" 205 (1951)","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00793.x"},{"key":"47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"J. Trifinopoulos, L. T. Nguyen, A. Van Haeseler, et al.  \"Nucleic Acids Research.\"  44, \"W-IQ-TREE: A fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis.\" W232 (2016)","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkw256"},{"key":"4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"J. N. Caira, J. Mega, T. R. 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Jensen, et al.  \"Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.\"  367, \"A DNA sequence-based approach to the identification of shark and ray species and its implications for global elasmobranch diversity and parasitology.\" 1 (2012)","DOI":"10.1206\/754.1"},{"key":"15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"C. J. Healy, J. N. Caira, K. Jensen, et al.  \"International Journal for Parasitology.\"  39, \"Proposal for a new tapeworm order, Rhinebothriidea.\" 497 (2009)","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpara.2008.09.002"},{"key":"8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"J. J. Cielocha  and K. Jensen  \"Zootaxa.\"  3626, \"Stoibocephalum n. gen. (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) from the sharkray, Rhina ancylostoma Bloch & Schneider (Elasmobranchii: Rhinopristiformes), from northern Australia.\" 558 (2013)","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.3626.4.9"},{"key":"13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"D. Fernando, R. M. K. Bown, A. Tanna, et al.  \"Zootaxa.\"  4585, \"New insights into the identities of the elasmobranch fauna of Sri Lanka.\" 201 (2019)","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.4585.2.1"},{"key":"26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"K. Jensen, P. Nikolov, J. N. Caira,  \"Folia Parasitologica.\"  58, \"A new genus and two new species of Anteroporidae (Cestoda: Lecanicephalidea) from the darkspotted numbfish, Narcine maculata (Torpediniformes: Narcinidae), off Malaysian Borneo.\" 95 (2011)","DOI":"10.14411\/fp.2011.010"},{"key":"39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"P. D. Olson, T. H. Cribb, V. V. Tkach, et al.  \"International Journal for Parasitology.\"  33, \"Phylogeny and classification of the Digenea (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda).\" 733 (2003)","DOI":"10.1016\/S0020-7519(03)00049-3"},{"key":"3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"J. N. Caira, K. Jensen, A. Waeschenbach, et al.  \"International Journal for Parasitology.\"  44, \"Orders out of chaos\u2014Molecular phylogenetics reveals the complexity of shark and stingray tapeworm relationships.\" 55 (2014)","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpara.2013.10.004"},{"key":"46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"V. V. Tkach, D. T. J. Littlewood, P. D. Olson, et al.  \"Systematic Parasitology.\"  56, \"Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Microphalloidea Ward, 1901 (Trematoda: Digenea).\" 1 (2003)","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1025546001611"},{"key":"48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"G. Van Der Auwera, S. Chapelle, R. De W\u00e4chter,  \"FEBS Letters.\"  338, \"Structure of the large ribosomal subunit RNA of Phytophthora megasperma, and phylogeny of the oomycetes.\" 133 (1994)","DOI":"10.1016\/0014-5793(94)80350-1"},{"key":"32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"P. R. Last, W. T. White, M. R. De Carvalho, et al.  \"Rays of the World.\"  790 (2016)","DOI":"10.1071\/9780643109148"},{"key":"14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"C. Hahn, L. Bachmann, B. Chevreux,  \"Nucleic Acids Research.\"  41, \"Reconstructing mitochondrial genomes directly from genomic next-generation sequencing reads\u2014a baiting and iterative mapping approach.\" e129 (2013)","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkt371"}],"container-title":["Journal of Parasitology"],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T22:51:33Z","timestamp":1791240693000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bioone.org\/journals\/journal-of-parasitology\/volume-111\/issue-5\/24-92\/Revision-of-the-Lecanicephalidean-Genus-Flapocephalus-Deshmukh-1979-Eucestoda-from\/10.1645\/24-92.full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,10]]},"references-count":48,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1645\/24-92","relation":{},"ISSN":["0022-3395","1937-2345"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0022-3395","type":"print"},{"value":"1937-2345","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,10]]}}}