Microcotyle furcata

Microcotyle furcata was described by Linton in 1940 from the gills of the labrid Hiatula Onitis collected near Woods Hole, off Massachusetts.^[3] Microcotyle hiatulae was described 40 years earlier by Goto in 1899 from the gills of the labrid Hiatula Onitis collected near Newport, off Rhode Island.^[1] Forty years later, Linton (1940) described M. furcata from the gills the same host collected near Woods Hole, off Massachusetts.^[3] As Linton did not mention M. hiatulae description of M. furcata, Thoney & Munroe suggested that Linton was unaware of Goto's earlier description of M. hiatulae.^[4] Thoney & Munroe examined Microcotyle specimens from T. onitis off Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Chesapeake Bay and indicated that all specimens collected from all three locations were indistinguishable from M. hiatulae. Comparison of meristic and morphometric of the holotype of M. furcata also reveals that this specimen are M. hiatulae indicating that Microcotyle furcata should be considered a junior subjective synonym of M. hiatulae'.^[4] Thoney & Munroe provided a redescription and illustrations of Microcotyle hiatulae to complete the original description lacking data on intraspecific variation and some important taxonomic characters, and also described the postlarval development.^[4] Thoney and Munroe's comparison of M. hiatulae with 18 other species of Microcotyle described previously from 15 host species living sympatrically with Hiatula onitis along the Atlantic coast of the United States by examination of published descriptions showed that many of the species were morphologically similar. Thoney and Munroe also noted that it was extremely difficult to identify an individual to species level in absence of host species identification.^[4]

Unnithan erected the subgenus Microcotyle in which he placed Microcotyle furcata as Microcotyle (Microcotyle) furcata.^[2] However, this species was returned to the genus Microcotyle by Mamaev.^[5]