Bradophila Levinsen 1878

Bradophila Levinsen, 1878

Levinsen (1878) proposed Bradophila for a new species, B. pygmaea, associated with the flabelligerid Brada villosa (Rathke, 1843). Although he recognized a certain resemblance in gross body morphology with Herpyllobius Steenstrup & Lütken, 1861 the difference in the point of origin of the connecting stalk was considered sufficient evidence for maintaining generic distinctiveness. The systematic position of Bradophila has been considered dubious for a long time. Hansen (1892) proposed the family Herpyllobiidae in which he included Herpyllobius, Eurysilenium M. Sars, 1870, Rhizorhina Hansen, 1892, and with considerable probability Saccopsis Levinsen, 1878 and Bradophila, not improbably Trophoniphila and possibly Oestrella. This classification was largely adopted by Haddon (1912). Applying his own descriptive terminology for the Herpyllobiidae to B. pygmaea, Leigh-Sharpe (1926) interpreted the collar-shaped, highly sclerotized anterior part of the ectosoma as the head and described it as having “symmetrically arranged fleshy excrescences with two lateral serrate horns”. In reality, the paired excrescences figured by Levinsen represent an optical section through the circular holdfast and the “serrate horns” are not part of the parasite but correspond to torn host integument or tissue located around the point of entry. Levinsen (1878) himself assumed that they were a continuation of the stalk, probably representing the remnants of the anterior, unknown part (endosoma) of a similar structure as seen in Herpyllobius. Leigh-Sharpe (1926) pointed out the presence of two spherical processes (as in Phallusiella Leigh-Sharpe, 1926) and a small median process (as in Eurysilenium) on the ectosoma but nevertheless excluded Bradophila from the Herpyllobiidae primarily because the “... head and neck are not perpendicular to the trunk”. Delamare-Deboutteville & Laubier (1960b) nevertheless continued listing Bradophila as a member of the Herpyllobiidae. Lützen (1964) showed that in herpyllobiids the stalk (neck) issued from a point on the midline of the underside of the ectosoma with which it usually forms a right angle. He excluded Bradophila from the Herpyllobiidae without suggesting an alternative placement for it; however, Monod & Laubier (1996) continued to treat the genus as a member of this family. Marchenkov (1997) initially listed B. pygmaea as incertae sedis in the Siphonostomatoida before designating it as the type of a new family in the Poecilostomatoida (Marchenkov 2002). Boxshall & Halsey (2004) placed the Bradophilidae in a more inclusive Cyclopoida.