ON THREE SPECIES OF THE NEMATODE GENUS CUCULLANUS MUELLER

During January-February, 1976, a faunistic survey of some coastal areas of India was undertaken by the authors in the course of which some nematodes were collected from marine fishes. The present paper /' deals with three species of the genus Oucullanus Mueller, 1777 of this collection. One of the species is new and the other known two show interesting variations and form new host and locality records. The paper also includes some morphological variations observed in Lappetascaris lutjani R~sheed, 1965, the material of which was collected by Dr. M. Hafeezullah in November, 1975. This species was first reported from Karachi, Paki&tan, but is now recorded from Tamil Nadu. All measurements are in millimeters.


INTRODUCTION
During January-February, 1976, a faunistic survey of some coastal areas of India was undertaken by the authors in the course of which some nematodes were collected from marine fishes.The present paper /' deals with three species of the genus Oucullanus Mueller, 1777 of this collection.One of the species is new and the other known two show interesting variations and form new host and locality records.
Remark8: Ali (1956) established the genus Indocucullanus with I. jaiswali as its type species for his specimens from a freshwater fish, Barbus sarana [=Puntius sarana] from Hyderabad.Subsequently another species I. arabiansae was added by Ali and Kalyankar (1966) based on a male specimen from a marine cat fish, Tachysurus maculatus from Bombay, thus extending the host range of the genus to marine fish.Kalyankar (1971) while giving the description of female of this species also added to the genus three more species viz., I. jalnaensis, I. alii, and I. malvanae respectively from Labeo rokita, Sciaena qlaucus [ = J ohnius qlaucus] and Tachysurus maculatus, all from Maharashtra.Khan (1969) Gupta and Srivastava (1975) described in abstract, and Srivastava and Gupta (1976)  The present species comes closer to Oucullanus jalnaensis (Kalyankar, 1971), which was based on a single male, in the absence of cephalic alae and in the number of caudal papillae but differs in body size being 4.5-7.5 (13.03 in O. jalnaensis), in having equal spicules 0.7-0.9(subequal, 0.55 & 0.5 in O. jalnaensis) and in the arrangenlent of caudall?apillae being 3 precloacal, one adcloacal and 4 postcloacal (3 precloacal, 2 adcloacal and 4 postcloacal in O. jalnaensis).
Remarks: The present specimens show some differences from Kalyankar's description of the species which was based on a male and a female, in a few characters viz., body size, number of caudal papillae and in having equal spicules, but these variations can be taken as intraspecific.However, the presence of a ventral papilla in preanal region of females in indeed significant.Its true nature is not well understood but it may have a sensory function.
The species is recorded here from new hosts and new localities.

Remarks:
The present specimen is the smallest example so far recorded for the species and shows variations 'in body size, size of spicules, and number and arrangement of caudal papillae but these are considered here as intraspecific.The species is recorded here for the first time from a new host and a new locality.
Family ANISAKIDAE (Railliet and Henry, 1912) Genus Lappetascaris Rasheed, 1965 Lappetascaris lutjani Rasheed, 1965 Material: 2 0 d' ; z.Remarks: The present specimens show some differences from Rasheed's description of the species viz., in body size, and in number and arrange~ent of caudal papillae, but these are considered here as intraspecific variations.The genus and species are now recorded here ,for the first time from Tamil Nadu and also from a new specific host.

SUMMARY
The paper deals with three species of the nematode genus Oucullanus of which one is new and two already known.These latter show interesting variations and also form new host and locality records.
Lappetascaris lutjani Rasheed, 1965, is also recorded here from a new host and from a new locality.
This species was first reported from Karachi, Paki&tan, but is now recorded from Tamil Nadu.