The first cryptogonimid trematode with adults parasitic in wrasses (Labriformes: Labridae) is proposed. Lobosorchis labri n. sp. was recovered at a substantial combined prevalence (63%, 15 of 24) from the thicklipped wrasses Hemigymnus melapterus (Bloch) and H. fasciatus (Bloch) at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Definitive hosts for all other Lobosorchis spp. are exclusively tropical snappers, Lutjanus spp. (Lutjaniformes: Lutjanidae). Novel material for Lobosorchis spp. collected from snappers is also reported, including for L. tibaldiae Miller infections of Lobosorchis spp., but not L. labri, were detected in sympatric snappers at Ningaloo Reef. Cryptogonimids were not detected in our examinations of 98 individuals of Hemigymnus spp. on the Great Barrier Reef; L. labri seemingly does not occur there, and thus the host switch which gave rise to this species likely occurred somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Piscivory in Hemigymnus spp. is reported, implied by infection of cryptogonimids and confirmed via examination of gut contents.
Armstrong et al. (Fri,) studied this question.